Richard Eugene Bock (January 22, 1927 – February 6, 1988) was an American jazz record producer. Bock was born in

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. He briefly worked for Discovery Records in 1950 and 1951, then founded the label

Pacific Jazz Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded ...

in Los Angeles with drummer

Roy Harte Roy S. Harte (May 27, 1924 – October 26, 2003) was an American jazz drummer and co-founder of Nocturne Records and Pacific Jazz Records. In partnership with Remo Belli, the founder and namesake of internationally famous drumhead manufacturer ...

in 1952. He would serve as producer of hundreds of sessions in cool jazz and

West Coast jazz West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...

for Pacific Jazz, working with Gerry Mulligan,

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Active in West Coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. He was known ...

Chico Hamilton Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton (September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, ...

, Jim Hall, Bud Shank, Buddy Rich, Wes Montgomery, Richard "Groove" Holmes,

Les McCann Leslie Coleman McCann (born September 23, 1935) is an American jazz pianist and vocalist.Feather, Leonard, and Ira Gitler (2007), ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 448. Oxford University Press. Early life Les McCann was born in ...

, Gerald Wilson, and the

Jazz Crusaders The Crusaders (formerly known as The Jazz Crusaders) were an American jazz group that was successful from the 1960s to the 1990s. The group was known as the Jazz Crusaders from their formation in 1960 until shortening their name in 1971. The Cru ...

. Bock would also be responsible for launching the careers of prominent jazz musicians, and can be credited with the discovery of

while he was coming clean from heroin addiction in the Synanon drug rehabilitation program in the early 1960’s. Wes Montgomery's composition "Bock to Bock" is named after Bock.Richard Bock biography by Scott Yanow & credits
at AllMusic In 1958, Bock worked on a session with Ravi Shankar, then started a subsidiary label, World Pacific, which released music other than jazz. He worked with the label even after selling it to

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

in 1965, recording sessions with them until 1970. He later worked as a producer for films, and in the 1980s also worked with the reformulated Contemporary Records. He worked closely with

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Br ...

and produced some of his historic global fusion albums starting with Fantasy Without Limits (1979). The finest jazz fusion albums of

in the 1980s were produced by Bock including Spanish Wave (1983). Indian Express (1983), Conversation (1984) (with Stéphane Grappelli), and Mani and Co. (1986). He died in Los Angeles, California, aged 61.

References

External links

Richard Bock biography by Scott Yanow & credits
at AllMusic
Richard Bock credits
at Discogs {{DEFAULTSORT:Bock, Richard 1927 births 1988 deaths Record producers from New York (state)