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 (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

on films about jazz and blues legends.

Life and career

Ricker was born on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, 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, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

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 university, 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 adjunct faculty. ...

in 1970. His first film was the critically acclaimed '' The Last of the Blue Devils'', 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 t ...

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, who also directed. Ricker developed the idea for the Eastwood-directed " Piano Blues" segment of ''The Blues'', the seven-part 2003 series executive produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

. 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 broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

' ''

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 U ...

'' 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. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

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