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LP
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DC 977LP
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$26.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 3/27/2026
"Tommy Peltier's Echo Park, compiled of unheard tapes from the early/mid 1970s, brings listeners into contact with a long-extinct creature -- equal parts slinky hipster, universal soldier of the heart and snuggly loverman -- the light-rockin' tinseltown troubadour, the likes of which hasn't been served around Hollywood since 1979! Tommy's somewhere in the tuneful tradition of Rupert Holmes, Stephen Bishop, Andrew Gold, David Batteau and of course, Captain Fantastic and the Thin White Duke. His soulful songs and high-pitched vocals are paired with the requisite chopsy, jazz-enriched LA players, entrancing the ear with grooves and performances both tasty and sweet. Mixed and mastered with great zest by Jim O'Rourke, Echo Park is an encompassing trip through a whole other time and place. A trumpet player since childhood, Tommy felt no need for pop music; he'd come of age during the west coast jazz explosion of the 1950s, hearing Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker's legendary performances at The Haig Club, just a mile west of MacArthur Park. Inspired by the departures of the Ornette Coleman Quartet, he founded The Jazz Corps in 1963, gigging all around town, including a residency at Hermosa Beach's also-legendary Lighthouse. In '68, he met aspiring singer/songwriter Judee Sill. He found her energy amazing, as she played bass in a group he was sitting in with, and it quickly became clear -- he and Judee were in tune! When Tommy picked up the guitar and started writing songs, she was there with help and encouragement. As the '70s dawned, Tommy was turning 35, but he was also turning the page, like so many others, to find something amazing there on the other side. Amazing music things flow freely up and down the tracklist of Echo Park. Inspired by Yes, Supertramp, ELO, Queen, Bowie, The Beatles and others, Tommy developed and honed his new music throughout the '70s. A handful of the cuts here were recorded between 1970 and '73, just a mile from Echo Park Lake, at an unassuming rear house set back in the hills. Other tracks were recorded at sessions in Hollywood in 1975 and '76, at now-obscure studios like Music Grinder and Heritage. Tommy's first pop band, Jasmine, appear on 'Here Today'. Tommy has continued to play music, releasing new stuff with Plastic Theatre Art Band in 1996, and a number of releases under his own name, most recently in 2011."
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CD
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BB 72008
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... Featuring Judee Sill. "Singer/songwriter Tommy Peltier started in the 1960s as a trumpet player, releasing LPs with Roland Kirk under the name The Jazz Corps. In 1970, Tommy switched to guitar and vocals and formed a close friendship with Judee Sill that would last throughout her life. With an acid folk sound not unlike Tom Rapp & Pearls Before Swine, these early 1970s recordings with Judee are released for the first time. Besides Judee Sill on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, the CD also features Lynn Blessing and Wolfgang Melz of the Gabor Szabo Quintet and Dave Parlato of Frank Zappa's Sleep Dirt LP. This enhanced CD also includes a video from 1973 of Peltier, Sill, and others performing in a television studio."
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