T-Bone Wolk, longtime Hall & Oates collaborator and bassist for the G.E. Smith (another H&O alum)-led Saturday Night Live house, died Saturday, February 27, of a heart attack. Known as the third (or sometime fourth, behind Oates’ mustache) member of Hall & Oates, Wolk first made his professional mark as a bassist on Kurtis Blow’s “These Are the Breaks.” Along with being the cool, hat-wearing, occasionally Rick Danko-style bass-playing foil to the ponytailed, grimacing Smith (who in fairness may be as fantastic a human being as they come), Wolk played with Elvis Costello, Roseanne Cash, and many more.
In recent years Wolk was often seen playing guitar alongside Hall & Oates, which taking nothing away from his 6-string chops just wasn’t right.
NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
I never met T-Bone but all accounts of him that I have heard say that he was an outstanding musician and a very cool guy. RIP indeed.
There were two other sudden passings this weekend:
Terry Howard, known for his engineering work with Ray Charles and for being unfairly accused by the Charles estate of running off with master tapes:
http://www.cakewalk.com/artist/Howard.asp
Also, David Nolan who worked in radio at WNYC, WBAI and later was the archivist at the 92nd Street Y.
http://www.jambands.com/news/2010/02/26/dave-nolan-1962-2010/
All three men were young and their deaths were sudden and tragic.
I was always a big T-Bone fan..this is sad news. Always thought the T-Bone, GE, Mickey Curry, Charlie DeChant lineup of Hall & Oates was a kickin’ little R&B band behind the 80’s synth gloss and sheen.
By the way, am I remembering wrong or was that SNL appearance by Robbie Robertson when he sang “Somewhere Down the Crazy River” the only cool solo thing he has ever done? Go ahead, spoil my memories and tell me that it wasn’t, in fact, all that cool.