Influential record producer and Ohio native Tommy LiPuma died Monday at the age of 80. LiPuma boosted the careers of many pop and jazz artists, but he always nurtured his roots. David C. Barnett of member station WCPN in Cleveland reports.
Tommy LiPuma left an indelible mark on the American music industry over the course of a fifty-plus-year career, working with artists that covered a wide range of styles from Barbara Streisand, Dr. John and the Pointer Sisters, to Miles Davis, Diana Krall and guitarist George Benson's 1976 breakout album Breezin'
MUSIC: Breezin' riff UP & UNDER
LiPuma's love for music started as a kid listening to jazz and rhythm and blues tunes on Cleveland radio, and later playing tenor sax in local bands.
In a 2003 interview, he said he learned the basics of the music business as a promoter for a local record distributor
LIPUMA: An independent distributor would handle numerous labels and you'd go to radio stations and you'd promote the records.
But, for all his fame, Tommy LiPuma never forgot his home town, backing an arts studies center at Cuyahoga Community College --- which was named in his honor. He also worked closely with the Tri-C Jazz Fest, and its director Terri Pontremoli.
PONTREMOLI: I think that his years of doing master classes and talking to students and working with our local musicians, as well, meant a lot to him.
LIPUMA: To me, the most important thing was the song. If you don't have the song, you don't have anything.
Tommy Lipuma is survived by his wife and two daughters. He was 80 years old.
