Obituary News

Clay Whitehead Nixon's Telecom Advisor Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
August 3, 2008

Clay 'Tom' Whitehead, 69; Nixon's telecom advisor revolutionized cable TV industry

Clay T. “Tom" Whitehead, who helped the cable TV industry flourish by bringing competition to the domestic satellite market in the early 1970s, died of prostate cancer July 23 at Georgetown University Hospital. He was 69. During the Nixon administration, Whitehead became the country's first telecommunications policy advisor and championed free markets in the satellite business. He later revolutionized communications satellite holdings by selling them outright to cable providers ...

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Hiram Bullock NY Times Obituary

Source: Michael Ricci
August 2, 2008

Hiram Bullock, 52, Soulful Guitarist, Dies

Hiram Bullock, a soulful and adaptable jazz and rock guitarist who was a member of the original band for Late Night with David Letterman, died last Friday in Manhattan. He was 52. The cause is pending, said Jennifer Armstrong, his partner of 16 years. Mr. Bullock was found to have cancer of the tongue last fall, she said. Mr. Bullock played on some blockbuster pop albums, including “The Stranger" by Billy Joel, Steely Dan's ...

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Michael Weiss Remembers Johnny Griffin

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 2, 2008

Long before he won the Thelonious Monk Institute Composers Competition in 2000, Michael Weiss established himself as a pianist. Fresh out of Dallas in his early twenties, he was soon working with Jon Hendricks, Junior Cook, Charles McPherson and Lou Donaldson, among others. He went on to play with Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan, Frank Wess, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra. As a leader, he had groups that included Cook, McPherson, Tom Harrell, Lew Tabackin and a ...

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Bud Browne Father of Surf Films Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
July 31, 2008

Surf's Up Bud Browne, a onetime Venice Beach lifeguard who became known as “the father of surf films." Browne began showing his 16-millimeter surf movies commercially up and down the California coast in the early 1950s. Browne died at the age of 96 in his sleep Friday at his home in San Luis Obispo, said his close friend Anna Trent Moore, daughter of surfing legend Buzzy Trent.

“Bud created the genre of surf films," Steve Pezman, publisher of ...

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Mourning the Internet Famous: Randy Pausch

Source: All About Jazz
July 30, 2008

When the silent film star Rudolph Valentino died in 1926, thousands gathered in the streets of New York in such an excitable state that a riot broke out, injuring 100 people. It was a leading indicator that the medium and its stars held Americans in thrall. Randy Pausch's death on Friday provides an example of how we'll mourn the passing of the internet famous. Pausch gained celebrity with his exceptional and touching “Last Lecture," which he delivered after he'd been ...

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Michael Berniker Record Producer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
July 29, 2008

Michael Berniker, a prolific record producer whose diverse projects won nine Grammy Awards over four decades, died on Friday in Great Barrington, Mass. He was 73.

Best known for producing the first three Barbra Streisand albums on Columbia as well as numerous Broadway cast albums, Mr. Berniker also produced Latin jazz, spoken word, comedy and classical records. The cause was complications from kidney disease, said his wife, Heather. Other pop artists he produced included Eydie Gorme, Johnny Mathis and Perry ...

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Joe Beck Jazz Guitarist with Sinatra, Davis Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
July 29, 2008

Joe Beck, 62; jazz guitarist collaborated with Sinatra, Davis, other top musicians was honored five times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as a “Most Valuable Player."

Joe Beck, a jazz guitarist who collaborated with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and James Brown, died July 22 at a Connecticut hospice after battling lung cancer. He was 62. Beck got his start as a teenager in the 1960s playing in a jazz trio in New York. ...

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Hiram Bullock Charismatic Jazz-Rock Guitarist

Source: All About Jazz
July 28, 2008

Hiram Bullock was a talented and charismatic guitarist, a rock'n'roller with a jazz head who bridged the world of sophisticated pop and the avant-garde New York jazz scene.

A super-session player, Bullock was mentored by the producer Phil Ramone, and his work can be heard on Steely Dan's Gaucho (1980), Paul Simon's One Trick Pony (1980), Sting's Nothing Like the Sun (1987), Billy Joel's The Stranger (1977) and Barbra Streisand's A Star Is Born (1976). He also played with the ...

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