Bruce Ricker (October 10, 1942 – May 13, 2011) was a jazz and blues documentarian. He is best known for his collaboration with

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

on films about jazz and blues legends.

Life and career

Ricker was born on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, Ricker was educated at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

where he earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies. He earned a law degree from

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

in 1970. His first film was the critically acclaimed ''

The Last of the Blue Devils ''The Last of the Blue Devils'', subtitled ''The Kansas City Jazz Story'', is a 1979 film documentary with notable figures from the history of Kansas City jazz starring Count Basie and Big Joe Turner. The film was produced and directed by Bruce ...

'', a 1979 feature-length documentary about

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

jazz during its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. Eastwood was the executive producer for '' Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser'', a 1988 documentary produced by Ricker and

Charlotte Zwerin Charlotte Zwerin (born Charlotte Mitchell, August 15, 1931January 22, 2004) was an American documentary film director and editor known for her work concerning artists and musicians. However, she is most known for her editing contributions to th ...

, who also directed. Ricker developed the idea for the Eastwood-directed "

Piano Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

" segment of ''The Blues'', the seven-part 2003 series executive produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

. Eastwood served as a producer or executive producer on documentaries Ricker made for television: ''Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That'' (2005), ''Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends'' (2007), ''Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me'' (2009) and '' Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way'' (2010). Ricker also directed and produced the 1997 TV documentary '' Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall'' and ''Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows'', a documentary that aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

' ''

American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the ...

'' series in 2000. He died in 2011 at the age of 68 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricker, Bruce 1942 births 2011 deaths American documentary filmmakers City College of New York alumni Brooklyn Law School alumni Filmmakers from New York (state) People from Staten Island