Just east of Hollywood, Tommy Peltier has been crafting sweet music in the Echo Park hills for over sixty years. A jazzman first, he recast himself in 1970 as an LA troubadour, creating a set of “glitter-light” pop tunes that somehow missed release—until now. Dating back to the early-mid-1970s, Echo Park is an encompassing trip through a whole other time and place, mixed and mastered with great zest by Jim O’Rourke. Drag City is set to unearth this treasure on March 27th, and the first single, “Flight of the Dancer,” releases today with an accompanying visualiser.
“Flight of the Dancer” was tracked in 1976 at Heritage Studios in Hollywood. There, Tommy & Co. unleashed an uptempo pop ballad breathing itself higher and higher in ecstatic reverie, bejewelled with a sensuous slide guitar refrain. Carrying the grace and elegance of George Harrison and Elton John, Tommy’s ethereal spirit guides this tune into the glossy night with the refrain: “I want to be there / when the light comes on / and we see who we really are.”
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. He founded The Jazz Corps in 1963 and gigged all around town, including a residency at Hermosa Beach’s legendary Lighthouse. After an injury ended his trumpet-playing days, Tommy turned to the guitar and started writing songs, encouraged by a new friend he made in ‘68, singer-songwriter Judee Sill.
Tommy honed his new music throughout the ’70s, inspired by Judee Sill, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell, pairing his soulful songs and high-pitched vocals—he was once called “Tom Rapp on helium”—with the requisite chopsy, jazz-enriched LA players. Alongside appearances from Judee and former Jazz Corpsmen, the album features guitarist Art Johnson (John Klemmer), keyboardist Richard Thompson (The Association), and bassist Wolfgang Melz (Mark-Almond). At the ripe young age of 90, Tommy continues to play music today. It is high time these songs make it out there, so take a journey through the past when Echo Park releases on March 27th.
Pre-Order Echo Park: https://lnk.to/echopark70s