Hiram Bullock Tribute

Mike Levine is a great pianist and keyboard player out of Miami. In the fall of 1981 he and reeds man Billy Ross were finishing up the second Ross-Levine Band album at a small studio in Coral Gables. The band had a great lineup including Jeff Carswell on bass and Steve Rucker (now head of the University of Miami percussion department) on drums but no permanent guitar player.

I was working at said studio as the assistant engineer, my first job out of college, when one day Mike announced.that Hiram Bullock would be coming down from New York to lay down the guitar tracks! Mike and Hiram were friends and classmates at the U of M in the glory days of the early 70's when Metheny, Jaco, et. al. were beginning to change the face of jazz as we knew it. All of us at the studio were thrilled. Though he had yet to land the Letterman gig, we all knew of him from his session work with artists like Steely Dan and Billy Joel.

I can't overstate what a generous act of friendship this was on Hiram's part. The studio bought his round-trip plane ticket and the rental of a Ford Escort for a week but as far as I know he received no pay at all for the sessions. This for a man who probably got double or triple scale in New York at the time. And yes, I said a week. He was at the studio three or four hours a day playing on every track of the album.

Though we had a good sounding room this was kind of a low budget studio. We didn't even have a guitar amp for Hiram to plug into when he showed up with his original Frankenstein guitar with the humbucker between the single coils and his digital delay. We did have an old Fender Bassman; Tony the engineer rolled it into the half-finished lobby, stuck a Sennheiser 421 in front of it, ran a long guitar cable under the control room door and we rolled tape while Hiram sat behind the board and wailed. The Bassman actually gave the tracks a warm, mellow sound that complimented Hiram's playing quite well.

Of course as you might have guessed, Hiram didn't only put down beautiful parts but he showed himself to be a beautiful person too. He was always happy and cheerful, always willing to do one more take, always giving each pass his all. I remember one time he was screaming a solo on the most rock and roll track on the record when he leaned too far back in the office chair, the chair slid out from under him and he fell flat on his back on the control room floor but kept on playing without missing a note! We kept that track on the record.

In between takes Hiram would talk about his experiences in music, living in New York, sports, current events, just about everything. He struck me as an especially intelligent, well spoken and well rounded individual as well as an awesome musician. He treated everyone with respect and consideration and was a good listener, both to music and to people. Before leaving town he threw a party at a friend's house and invited everyone to come. It was a great ending to an unforgettable week.

Fifteen years later when I first got on the internet I came across Hiram's web site and the "Bullockian Lounge", his chat room. Not expecting a reply, I sent him a message with recollections of those sessions. He responded warmly, said he remembered me and that he had a lot of fun that week in Miami. Once again I was touched by his love and humanity.

I'm sorry to say I hadn't been following his career lately, When I googled his name last week to see what he'd been up to and found out he had passed on I felt like I'd lost an old friend. It was nice to read all the good memories so many people have of Hiram. His spirit will surely live on in our hearts and in his great recordings.