Hiram Bullock

Hiram Law Bullock (September 11, 1955 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz funk and jazz fusion guitarist.

Bullock was born in Osaka, Japan to African American parents serving in the U.S. military. At the age of two he returned to Baltimore, Maryland with his parents and showed musical talent. He studied piano at the city’s Peabody Conservatory of Music, giving his first public performance at the age of six. After playing saxophone and bass guitar, he took up the electric guitar at age sixteen.

Bullock attended McDonogh School for Boys in Reisterstown, Maryland. He was captain of the band in middle school. He studied at the University of Miami, where he met guitarists Pat Metheny and Steve Morse, and bass players Jaco Pastorius and Will Lee. He paid for tuition by performing at nightclubs in Florida before moving to New York. He became best known for playing with Lee on Late Night with David Letterman and working with David Sanborn and Bob James. His work can be heard on Bob James’ Angela which is also the theme song for the TV show Taxi, Steely Dan‘s Gaucho (1980), Paul Simon‘s One Trick Pony (1980), Sting‘s …Nothing Like the Sun (1987) and Billy Joel‘s The Stranger (1977). He also worked with Harry Belafonte, Marcus Miller, Carla Bley, Miles Davis, Ruben Rada, and Gil Evans.

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