Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rich Bullock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Rich thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
My answers to this may seem a bit odd. First, am I happy as an artist or creative? The answer to this is yes, absolutely. I have had many wonderful experiences, established a good professional reputation and made just a bit of money as a musician since late 1974. My other, newer creative interests such as VoiceOver and singing have not brought nearly as much acclaim or fortune as my trombone pursuits so far but have nonetheless provided me some rewards as well, and I am looking to increase my participation in those areas in the years I have left.
Next, do I wonder what it would be like to have a regular job? Well, I don’t have to wonder…I had a regular job in the aerospace industry for a little over 31 years while simultaneously pursuing my musical passion. Since November 30, 1981, music and my other creative pursuits have not been my main source of income. Even after retiring at the end of 2012, my retirement income stream has far outpaced my earnings from music and VoiceOver. For the longest time, I lamented to myself that conditions in my life made it necessary for me to have a day job and not be able to pursue my passions full time. But in time I came to realize that was not a healthy attitude to have. After all, in spite of the job, I was nonetheless able to perform and record with many name bands and popular artists, record for a good number of TV shows and movies, perform for many local musical theaters and operas, and so on. And the stability of the job and the benefits provided allowed me not to stress out about providing for my family, put our daughter through UCLA and secure a good retirement for myself. A musician friend once told me that I had the best of both worlds…I think he was right! I often think that if anyone could learn anything from my experience, it would be that it is possible to combine a day job or career with your creative pursuits and even achieve some noteworthy things while doing so. It’s not necessarily easy, but it can be done!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Well, since I have three distinct areas of interest, this will be comprised of three sections. First up is my story as a trombonist.
Ever since I was a kid, the idea of being in a band was always appealing to me. I remember hearing records with instrumental backing, or with no vocals at all, and wanted to know more about the instruments making those sounds. In my fifth grade year in Warren, Arkansas in 1965, I finally had the chance to join beginning band. An interesting coincidence is that Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass were coming into great popularity at that time! After trying the snare drum for a very short while, I got a bit bored with that and decided I wanted to play something that actually made a musical sound. Hence, my beginning on the trombone. Upon moving to Long Beach, California in 1969 with my family, I was able to start taking trombone lessons for real in my sophomore year of high school in 1970. In 1971, my teacher James Nelson, whom I owe SO much to, encouraged me to switch to the bass trombone, whereupon my parents purchased a used instrument from one of my classmates. I had always loved the sound and look of the big bass trombone…and upon playing it, it was as if the clouds had parted and I could see I was meant to play it all along! And the rest, as they say, is history…below is an excerpt from my music website highlighting my professional accomplishments over the years:
Performed and recorded with the Don Ellis Orchestra from 1975-1978. Joined Bill Watrous’
Refuge West Big Band in 1978 and, after a hiatus of several years in the 1980’s, continued to be a
regular member of the band until Bill’s passing in 2018. Toured with Harry James and
Al Hirt in 1980. Since the early 1980’s has also performed and/or recorded with the big bands of
Tom Kubis, Tracy Wells, Gordon Goodwin, Billy Vera, Paul Cacia, Bill Perkins, Matt Catingub, Ladd McIntosh, Woody
Herman (post Woody), Jack Sheldon, George Graham, George Stone, Joey Altruda, Wayne
Bergeron, Buddy Bregman, Chris Walden, Dirk Fischer, Gary Urwin, Scott Whitfield, Phil Woods,
Alan Broadbent, the Ron Jones Influence Jazz Orchestra, Doug McDonald and the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra
under the direction of Mike Vax. Popular artists performed or recorded with include Peaches and Herb
(remember disco?), Bob Welch, the LA Boppers, Toni Tennille (with Matt Catingub), Chicago (with
Bill Watrous), Natalie Cole, Steve Allen (with Tom Kubis), Johnny Mathis, Bobby Caldwell, Lou
Rawls, Paul Anka, Bernadette Peters, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Robert Goulet, Collin
Raye, Lorna Luft, Patti Austin, Michael Bolton, Chris Botti, Luis Miguel and many more. Since the
late 1970’s has been more or less involved with freelance motion picture and
television recording. Was a frequent performer for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera from 1985-
1995. Has performed occasionally with the Long Beach Opera, Opera Pacific, Long Beach
Symphony and Pacific Symphony since the late 1980’s. Performed with the Long Beach Municipal
Band as a regular member and substitute from 1973 (pre-Proposition 13) until 2007. Was part of
the all-star band that performed for the world premiere of the show “Like Jazz” at the Mark Taper
Forum from November 2003 to January 2004. Has previously worked on the scores for the
animated series “Futurama”, “Family Guy” and “American Dad”. Performed the world premiere of Ross Wright’s Concerto for Tuba and Bass Trombone with John Van Houten and the St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Tom Neenan on
October 17, 2008. Aside from specializing on bass trombone, Rich also plays tenor and contrabass trombones and tuba.
Now that you’ve gotten through that, here’s a bit about my VoiceOver pursuits…don’t worry, it’s not nearly as long!
Ever since I was a kid, I enjoyed listening to the radio, not only for the music but also for the patter of the deejays. I often thought that might be a fun job to have, and in 1981 when I felt my music career was stalling, I auditioned for and was accepted into the KIIS Broadcasting workshop…only to have it go bankrupt after only a couple of lessons. Fortunately I did not lose much money, and some knowledgable friends of mine told me it was a bit of a sham anyway. But the experience did whet my appetite for VoiceOver…however, real life intervened until the year 2000, when a friend of mine encouraged me to enroll at the Kalmenson and Kalmenson workshop. Since then, I have taken many workshops in all areas of VoiceOver. Career-wise, I have not yet become the next Don LaFontaine, nor have I done anything that has appeared on any national platform. But work has trickled in over the years, enough to keep me interested and feel that there is still potential for me to expand. Regarding my VO characteristics, I will again borrow for my VO website (www.richbullockvo.com):
A Warm, Friendly, Authoritative, And Rich Bass Voice
RICH BULLOCK…
…CAPABLE, COMMITTED, READY & EAGER to FIND THE MUSIC in ANY SCRIPT!
Voiceover directors and agents often tell voice talent to find the “music” or “melody” to copy for a script. Let Rich sing your melody for you…
Extensive background as a professional musician within all musical genres enables him to do just that!
Virtually all categories of voiceover are in his repertoire.
Trained with a veritable Who’s Who of teachers including Robin Armstrong, Pat Fraley, Jodi Gottlieb, Joyce Castellanos, Jeff Howell, MaryLynn Wissner, Marc Cashman, Scott Brick, Beau Weaver, Kalmenson & Kalmenson, Kay Bess, MJ Lallo, Lauren Adams, Tim Keenan and Sylvia Aimerito…among others.
Rich is well prepared for practically any voiceover need that may arise.
Longtime prior employment in the corporate aerospace world enables him to understand the importance of being responsive to the needs of the client.
Rich will do all he can to provide maximum value and meet the deadline for any project he is employed on.
Rich is his name… Rich is his voice…
Availability:
Animation
Announcements
Audiobooks
Character
Commercial
Corporate (Industrial)
Documentary
eLearning
Explainer Videos
Imaging / Radio
Infomercials
Internet & Web
Medical Narration
Narration
Pharmaceuticals
Promo & Trailers
Promotional
Public Service
Video Games
And now…for my singing interests!
I always enjoyed singing, but never really took it seriously…the trombone was a jealous master! But I can consider my singing “career” to have started around 1975 when Tracy Wells, leader of a band I was in at the time, decided to use me as his bass singer for a group modeled along the lines of The Modernaires, The Pied Pipers, The Anita Kerr Singers and so on. Tracy would also occasionally feature me on novelty tunes such as “Mack The Knife”, “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and so on. This continued up until about 10 years or so ago, when my friend Scott Whitfield (amazing trombonist, singer and composer) assembled a vocal group modeled after The Four Freshmen called Los Angeles Vocal Association (LAVA for short) with me as his bass singer. We did a gig, recorded a few tracks for some of his projects, but nothing much has come of it so far. Another possibility that has stalled was the establishment of The New Ray Conniff Singers (with me on bass again) and Orchestra in 2019…unfortunately COVID and some other circumstances have prevented that from coming to fruition. I was really looking forward to that, especially after listening to some of the old Conniff recordings. But I am recently hearing that there may hope for that to come to life yet…my fingers are crossed! But the thing that has really whetted my appetite for singing and to take it more seriously, even at this late point in my life, has been my involvement for the last three holiday seasons with the professional caroling troupe The Music Companie and all of their marvelous singers, led by Pat Loeb. My fellow singers have given me great reviews, and as a result I have decided to study privately with one of the area’s leading singers and teachers Reid Bruton. And especially considering that it seems my trombone career is on the wane, I am looking to increase my involvement in singing. I really have no idea what it will lead to professionally, but I see it as a fun, new adventure!
After reading all of this, you probably get the idea that I love music, the human voice and performing. I hope to do a combination of it all in the time I have left!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I think I may have alluded to this previously, but the biggest pivot I did in career and life had to be when I made the decision to take my day job with Rockwell International in November 1981. In the year prior, I had been on the road for almost half the year, first with Harry James and then with Al Hirt. I decided to leave Al’s band early out of concern that if I was out of town too long people would forget about me and I would lose my contacts and jobs. Big mistake! Little did I know what was right around the corner…the Musicians Union strike against the producers and a crushing heartbreak in my personal life. But I did manage to save a good chunk of money while on the road, and combined with what little work I was still getting, I managed to stretch things out until November of 1981. Some time previously as I was bemoaning my lack of work to Tracy Wells, one of the bandleaders I mentioned before and who was also a manager at Rockwell International. He told me that if things got too bad in music he might be able to get me a job there and brought an application for me to fill out. I figured, what could it hurt? So one fateful day in November 1981, I was looking at my checking account balance…almost empty. I looked at my datebook for work…distressingly blank. And December was coming up quickly, and I wondered how the heck am I going to be able to pay my rent? Almost as if on cue, the phone rang…”Hello Richard Bullock? This is Rockwell International calling. Tracy Wells has put in a requisition for you and we would like to make an offer of employment.” Well. I thought about it for one second before saying “Yes!” As happy and relieved as I was to know I would be making steady money with benefits, I know it would seriously curtail my music career if not ending it totally. And sure enough, I did have to give my position with Bill Watrous’ Refuge West Big Band and some other work. The first few years I had hardly any work at all, but the work gradually started coming back…I was even able to rejoin the Watrous band when he decided to rehearse on an as needed basis only. And many of the things I mentioned in my background previously were accomplished during my employment with Rockwell and later Boeing, after the big merger in the mid 1990’s. I later came to realize that I did have a good mix of regular employment and creative pursuits. But at first, what a pivot it was!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.richbullockvo.com, www.bassbonevoice.com
- Facebook: Rich Bullock
- Linkedin: Richard Bullock
- Twitter: @BullockRich
Image Credits
Rich Bullock