Tommy LiPuma — R.I.P.

[Ron Thorne]

Record Producer And Label Executive Tommy LiPuma Has Died At Age 80


Producer and label executive Tommy LiPuma, shot in New York City in 2011. LiPuma died Monday at age 80.
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images


Tommy LiPuma, a record label executive and producer who made recordings with George Benson, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Natalie Cole, Dr. John, David Sanborn, Barbra Streisand, Queen Latifah, Leon Russell, Al Jarreau and Miles Davis, died Monday evening in New York City after a brief, undisclosed illness. His death was announced by Regina Joskow, a former colleague, family friend and jazz publicist.

Over the course of his career, LiPuma brought his artists — and labels — notable commercial success outside the realm pop albums. The recordings which he produced sold more than 75 million copies in total, including 35 titles that went gold or platinum. They include Natalie Cole's 1991 album Unforgettable ... With Love (which went seven times platinum); George Benson's Breezin' from 1976, which became a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 Chart; and a string of hits with singer Diana Krall across 11 titles and over 15 million albums sold. Along the way, LiPuma also won five Grammy Awards and earned 33 Grammy nominations.





Born July 5, 1936, LiPuma grew up in Cleveland, and played saxophone as a student. His rise in the record business was the result of a very old-school progression through the music industry. As jazz bassist and composer (and Jazz Night in America host) Christian McBride noted at an 80th-birthday celebration concert held last year in LiPuma's honor, he went from "cutting hair to cutting hit records."

After working as a barber, LiPuma began packing vinyl records at a warehouse. Soon, he was offered a job in Los Angeles as a radio promoter for Liberty Records before taking a job in publishing. He then began to work as a producer on early recordings by performers including The O'Jays and Randy Newman.

He was the first staff producer at A&M records, and in the '60s co-founded the musically eclectic Blue Thumb Records with future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame co-founder Bob Krasnow. He went on to hold executive positions at many of the top American labels that produced jazz, smooth jazz and music aimed at older audiences; they included Warner Bros., Elektra, GRP/Impulse and Verve.

In 2011, he produced Paul McCartney's Concord album Kisses On The Bottom, which won a Grammy for Best Pop Standard Album (Vocal) along with projects with Leon Russell and the trumpeter Dominick Farinacci. His last production was a forthcoming album from Krall entitled Turn Up The Quiet, which is scheduled for release in May.

LiPuma is survived by his wife, Gill, daughters Jen Monti and Danielle Wiener, and four granchildren: Matty, Julia, Chloe and Ava.

[Ron Thorne]

Remembering the legendary singer/performer.
In Memory of Tommy LiPuma 1936-2017
Tommy LiPuma 1936-2017



A year before I launched JAZZIZ, I bought an LP — this was before the emergence of CDs — based on its cover alone. The album was Casino Lights—Recorded Live at Montreux, Switzerland, and it was easy to read the cover type: "featuring David Sanborn, Al Jarreau, Randy Crawford, Yellowjackets, Neil Larson, Buzz Feiten, Mike Mainieri and Larry Carlton." How could this be? How could some of my favorite artists, with no obvious connection, be on one album. I bought the record, took it home, carefully slipped it out of the Warner Bros sleeve, cued up Side One on my Technics belt-driven turntable, reclined on the couch with my feet on the coffee table and read the liner notes. With my sight and sound senses turned all the way up, I found a commonality among these seemingly disparate jazz stars: Tommy LiPuma.

I became obsessed with LiPuma. I learned that beyond his Midas touch with so many artists I enjoyed, from Natalie Cole to Peabo Bryson to Everything But The Girl, he was also the mastermind behind George Benson's Breezin' and the producer of Michael Franks, Claus Ogerman, Michael Brecker, the Yellowjackets and many others. Further research revealed that LiPuma produced rocker Dave Mason's hit first solo album, Barbra Streisand's The Way We Were, as well as albums by Dan Hicks, Hugh Maskela and Leon Russell. Finally I realized that LiPuma wasn't simply a jazz guy; he was a musical genius. To say the least, I was a big fan.

During the first decade of JAZZIZ, I'd occasionally run into Tommy at shows and conventions, but I didn't get to know him well until we met at a showcase for a new artist that had just been signed by GRP. The show was at the now-defunct Five Spot in New York City, the jazz club that had showcased Coltrane and Monk the year I was born and that had once served as a gathering place for some of the world's leading abstract expressionist painters. I stood with Tommy at the back of the club, and we discussed how the unknown Canadian artist we were watching onstage was going to rock the jazz world. I agreed to feature her on an upcoming cover — and that's how Diana Krall first landed on a JAZZIZ cover.

When Tommy became the head of GRP Records in the Universal Music Group, he invited me to dinner in Manhattan, where he told great stories and shared his views on the future of jazz and other matters. It was the beginning of wonderful friendship. A few years later, I started a label with Lee Ritenour and Mark Wexler; it was a joint venture with the Verve Group at PolyGram and, as fate would have it, when Universal bought PolyGram, Tommy, figuratively, became my boss. One day he called while I was in Florida. In a choked-up voice, he asked me to come to New York to talk about the label.

When I arrived at his office, he was lying on the couch with his hands over his face, having stayed up all night working on Krall's latest project. He told me that the newly merged Universal insisted on getting rid of all joint ventures, and he was mandated to buy me out and cut me loose. When he asked me what I wanted, I replied simply, "a lot of money, to keep the i.e. music brand and to be able to pick up any artists that Verve drops." Without hesitation, he agreed to all of my requests. A few months later, I was leaving a midtown restaurant just as Tommy was arriving. We hugged and he asked me to stop by the next day. Of course I obliged. Soon after I arrived at his office, he asked if I was interested in working together again. When I reminded him that he had just recently ended our business relationship, he responded, "That was a corporate decision. I want to work with you guys." Talk about feeling honored.

Since that time, Tommy and I have stayed in touch by email and text. Occasionally we've had long conversations on the phone, including when he was in the studio with Paul McCartney. Last year, when he and I were both in Washington D.C. for a "Jazz at the White House" event, we ran into each other at a downtown restaurant. I suggested we do a podcast together, which we scheduled for a few weeks later. That was the last time I saw Tommy.

A few weeks ago, I invited him to sit with me at the Michael Brecker Tribute at J@LC. But even though Krall was one of the featured performers, Tommy was in Los Angeles putting the final touches on her new album. Next thing I heard, he was in the hospital with pneumonia. On Monday morning, I woke up to the news that Tommy had died the previous night.

I was in tears taking my youngest kids to school that day (and as I write this). Even my 5- and 8-year-old girls know Tommy because his bobbing statue sits on my desk every day as a reminder that there are indeed wonderful and talented people that come into our lives and make the world a better place.

Michael Fagien

Musically yours,
Michael Fagien
Founder of JAZZIZ