R.I.P. Hiram Bullock

[JSngry]

Sadly reported on Will Lee's site that Hiram Bullock passed away as well.

http://www.willlee.com/home.php

His blog sounds like may have been cancer (?) http://www.hirambullock.com/blog.html

[zen archer]

Very Sad News ....RIP .

[Chalupa]

R.I.P.

I wonder if it was thyroid cancer. It could explain the weight gain.

[medjuck]

I know him mostly for his work with Gil Evans though I once saw him leading his own group in LA. He always seemed so young and full of life. The last note on his blog is quite remarkable: he's more concerned about the other people in his ward -- including the staff-- than he is about himself.

[sidewinder]

Yet more sad news, especially so reading the bog. Always enjoyed his playing. What a week ! RIP Hiram.

Edited July 26, 2008 by sidewinder

[Dan Gould]

I know him mostly for his work with Gil Evans though I once saw him leading his own group in LA. He always seemed so young and full of life. The last note on his blog is quite remarkable: he's more concerned about the other people in his ward -- including the staff-- than he is about himself.

Well he does call it "very treatable" which makes it extra sad that the cancer took him so quickly after what was apparently an encouraging prognosis by his doctors.

[7/4]

didn't expect this....

.

[Harold_Z]

Didn't expect it either....a shocker. RIP Hiram.

[Fer Urbina]

Shocked too. I think I first noticed him in Sting's Nothing Like The Sun (of all places ) for his solo on Hendrix's Little Wing (song arranged by Gil Evans).

You can hear it here

RIP

F

[GA Russell]

RIP

I saw him in 1997 in Atlanta as a warm-up act for Mark Murphy. His music that night was pretty lightweight, but fun for the whole crowd.

[Jim Alfredson]

Holy shit. I just saw him last year at the Park City Jazz Festival and we talked quite a bit. The year before that he was at the Detroit Jazz Festival playing with Will Lee's tribute to Jaco that went on right after organissimo.

Wow.

RIP.

Terrible news.

[JSngry]

Can't say that I've followed his career in years, but still, I hate to see people like this go while they still got it to give.

I always dug the guy simply because, apart from his musicianship, he seemed like a free spirit who simply really loved playing music. No real "boundaries" or anything, it just seemed like the guy dug playing whatever he got a chance to play. Seeing him on the Letterman show was always a groove - the cat had no qualms about going out there when/how he felt it, and it was so natural that it didn't really seem all that out there until you thought about what it was you were hearing and where it was you were hearing it.

Also, can't forget that he was part of the David Sanborn band that included Marcus Miller & I forget who all else. Hideaway, Voyeur, that stuff. That's a genre of music no doubt outside the scope of interest to most here, but that scene had a level of organic musicality and spirit that virtually none of its "followers" did. It was music of a specific time, place, and motivation, but there was no shame, and most importantly, no fakery in any of it. With that I find no real fault and, sometimes, some real appreciation & affection for what they did and how they did it.

So long, and thanks.

[mikeweil]

Oh gawd! He was a helluva player.

R.I.P.

[JohnS]

Sad news indeed. Saw him perform a couple of times with Gil Evans. Remember his vocal on Moondance particularly.

[vajerzy]

I remember him in David Letterman's Band with Will Lee-

[7/4]

I remember him in David Letterman's Band with Will Lee-

For most, that's all he'll be remembered for.

[JSngry]

Yeah, the whole Paul Shaffer shtick has gotten to be a joke, but people need to remember that when that show and that band first hit, it was a pretty radical departure, and that Hiram Bullock, Will Lee, & Steve Jordan weren't some old vets cooling out in their later years in the comfort of a steady gig, but were some of the studs of the NYC "urban jazz" studio scene.

Of course, 98% of the people watching the show probably didn't know that, but still... there were nights when they'd come back from commercial, and Bullock would be just going for it on some garage band schlock, and I was thinking to myself, "damn, how cool is THIS?"

But that was then, this is now. Steve Jordan's long gone (Anton Fig never cut it for me), Will Lee is the new Ross Tompkins (Tonight Show band joke...), & Hiram Bullock is dead.

Life is short. Carpe deim, y'all.

Edited July 27, 2008 by JSngry

[7/4]

The Night Music gig with Sanborn was a bit more memorable for me.

.

[JSngry]

But unfortunately not nightly...

[7/4]

Yeah...if they could put a man on the moon and Mosaic could release a Braxton Arista box, maybe they can put out Night Music on DVD someday.

and maybe I can dream...

.

[Rooster_Ties]

Damn.

Loved him on Sanborn's Night Music.

- front and center, on Letterman

[BruceH]

What shock! I didn't even know he was sick. RIP

[vajerzy]

I remember him in David Letterman's Band with Will Lee-

For most, that's all he'll be remembered for.

What's cool for me is that I researched his playing and that led me into music I may not have known about had I not seen him on Letterman.

[LarryCurleyMoe]

Sorry to hear of Hiram's passing- I too saw him with Gil Evans in the 80's at Chicago Jazz Fest; Dug his work with Carla Bley.

[Aggie87]

I remember him in David Letterman's Band with Will Lee-

Dave and Paul had some nice words for Hiram tonight.