Vanilla Fudge lead guitarist on bassists passing

Rock n Roll lost a great bass player when Vanilla Fudge Tim Bogert succumbed to cancer on January 13 according to Deadline, which also says;

"Bogert was long considered one of the great rock bassists during the heyday of the genre in the 1960s and ’70s, one of the few early rockers whose solos could hold an audience."

He was also part of "Cactus" and one of the first supergroups, "Beck, Bogert and Appice."

Vanilla Fudge lead guitarist Vince Martell called into my show Monday, Jan. 18 to talk about the bassists passing.

"Timmy was the best as far as I'm concerned," Martell said when he called in. "He had an uncanny bass player he had a  way of going off on a wild tangent in his song and this guy would come right back with total precision on the top of the beat. He was fantastic."

Vince got to spend some time with Bogert near the end.

"We know it was coming, Timmy was sick for a long time. He was in remission for a long time, he was in a lot of pain. We did all we could do. we talked to him, we visited him, we played for him, we did everything we could do but he knew it was coming and he was ready for it. I'm pretty sure that the Lord is smiling on him and he's in a better place now."

Martell was very happy that they did get to record "Out through The In Door," their last album together. It's a Vanilla Fudge tribute to Led Zeppelin and he's very proud of their version of "The Immigrant Song: "Listen to that!," Martell said.

In our interview together, Vince tells some great stories about how Vanilla Fudge got together, the Long Island sound and his fallen friend, who he says, in later years, "I think as Timmy got older he had become a little more conservative in his playing, less is more, and he was always locked in with Carmine [Appice] the great drummer, they were like two players with one heartbeat."

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.