Hiram Bullock

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Hiram Bullock on stage (2006)

Hiram Bullock (* 11. September 1955 in Osaka Prefecture , Japan ; † 25. July 2008 in New York City ) was an American jazz - funk - and fusion - guitarist .

Live and act

Bullock was born in Japan, where his parents were stationed as American soldiers. He came to the USA at the age of two. As a child he learned to play the piano at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore , Maryland, and gave his first concert at the age of six. He learned the saxophone at the age of eleven and switched to bass guitar in the lower grades of high school . At 16 he switched to the guitar in order to have more success with girls.

Bullock attended the University of Miami School of Music, where he studied with Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius . It was here that he met many of the musicians with whom he would later play as a professional musician throughout his career. At one of his regular nightclub gigs in Florida he played with the singer Phyllis Hyman , with whom Bullock went to New York in the mid-1970s.

In New York, he performed with David Sanborn and the Brecker Brothers before forming the 24th Street Band . This formation with Steve Jordan on drums , Clifford Carter on keyboards and bassist Mark Egan , who was later replaced by Will Lee, found enthusiastic fans in Japan and released two records there . The second was co-produced by keyboardist Paul Shaffer . When Shaffer later put together a house band for the " David Letterman Show" on NBC television , he turned to Bullock, Jordan and Lee of the 24th Street Band to play with them on the "Late Night Talk Show", the first time Aired in 1981. In 1983 he played in the Monday Night Orchestra of Gil Evans . Another important relationship was with producer Phil Ramone, who recruited Bullock for a series of gold and platinum best-selling albums by pop stars Billy Joel, Paul Simon and Kenny Loggins . Bullock has come to Europe repeatedly with his own formations in recent years; so he performed regularly at the Aalen Jazz Festival .

Bullock died on July 25, 2008 at the age of 52 after a larynx cancer disease believed to be over ; according to other sources, he died as a result of his drug addiction.

Career as a studio musician

Bullock also appeared in numerous credits of recordings by the Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn, Jaco Pastorius , Pete Townshend , Bob James, Chaka Khan , James Taylor , Steely Dan , James Brown , Miles Davis , Barbra Streisand , Sting , Burt Bacharach , Roberta Flack, Spyro Gyra, Eric Clapton and Al Green , on the soundtrack Footloose , Gil Evans , Mike Stern , Michael Franks and other world stars.

Own CDs

In the mid-eighties, Bullock played in the house band of the television program "Saturday Night Live" and in 1985 released his first record as a band leader, which was called "First Class Vagabond". Fusion-heavy From All Sides followed in 1986, Give It What U Got in 1987 and Way Kool in 1992 , all on Atlantic Jazz. Also in 1987 Bullock played the solo on Sting's interpretation of the Hendrix classic "Little Wing", where he cleverly combined jazz / fusion with elements of the blues. This was followed by two albums with bassist and long-time colleague Will Lee and drummer Clint deGanon - the 1994 World of Collision and the 1996 live album Manny's Car Wash . Late Night Talk from 1996 was more jazz-heavy, with Dr. Lonnie Smith on Hammond B-3, Idris Muhammad on drums, Joe Locke on vibraphone and Ed Howard on bass. Carrasco - released in 1997 - was his homage to Latin music, while the 2000 album Guitar Man marked a return to his rock-fusion roots. With Color Me , which was released in 2001, Bullock began to orientate himself more towards pop, and with Try Livin 'It he took another big step in that direction. In autumn 2005 the album Too funky 2 ignore was released . Posthumously in January 2009, Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix was released , a live recording of a concert with the WDR Big Band and Billy Cobham from 2004 (released in 2008).

Discography

  • 1986: From All Sides ( Atlantic )
  • 1987: Give It What U Got (Atlantic)
  • 1992: Way Kool (Atlantic)
  • 1994: World of Collision (Big World)
  • 1996: Manny's Car Wash (Big World)
  • 1997: Carrasco ( Fantasy )
  • 1997: Late Night Talk (Venus)
  • 2000: First Class Vagabond (JVC Victor)
  • 2001: Color Me (Via)
  • 2002: Best of Hiram Bullock (WEA)
  • 2003: Try Livin 'It (EFA Records)
  • 2004: Jam Jam (3D)
  • 2006: Guitarman (JVC Victor)
  • 2006: Too Funky 2 Ignore (BHM Productions)
  • 2009: Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (BHM Productions)
  • 2013: Christmas Revisited (Jazzline)

Style direction

While Hiram Bullock was often assigned to jazz , funk and fusion music, Bullock himself described his style as groove music . There is always a footstep element. Bullock understood it very well, a classic blues pass phrases, by inserting a fresh jazz licks upgrade. Since he was also very skilled with bending, he was able to give the impression that the notes would “fall into one another”. His solo in Little Wing on the Sting album … Nothing Like the Sun (1987) is a good example of this technique.

Bullock was known to play barefoot when performing. He was an endorser for Cort-Guitars, who manufacture signature guitars based on Bullock's ideas .

Web links

Commons : Hiram Bullock  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. On the death of Hiram Bullock ( memento of the original from September 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.allaboutjazz.com
  2. Guitarist Hiram Bullock Dies at 52 , obituary in JazzTimes July 28, 2008, accessed February 12, 2017
  3. Jazz Podium (No. 9/2008)