- Hugh Hopper
Hugh C Hopper (born
29 April 1945 ,Canterbury ,Kent ,England ) is aprogressive rock / (fusion)jazz bass guitarist and composer. He has been a prominent member of theCanterbury scene . [ [http://calyx.club.fr/mus/hopper_hugh.html Hugh Hopper biography] at [http://calyx.club.fr Calyx, the Canterbury web site] ]Biography
Early career
Starting in 1963 as bassist with The Daevid Allen Trio, alongside drummer Robert Wyatt, he alternated between free jazz and rhythm and blues. In 1965 with his brother Brian, Robert Wyatt,
Kevin Ayers and Richard Sinclair he formed TheWilde Flowers , a pop music group that never released any records during its existence, but spun off into two other influential Canterbury scene groups,Soft Machine and Caravan.With Soft Machine (1968-1972)
Hopper's role with Soft Machine was initially as the group's road manager, but he already composed for their first album "The Soft Machine" and played bass on one of its tracks. In 1969 he was recruited to be the group's bassist for their second album, "Volume Two" and, with
Mike Ratledge andRobert Wyatt , he took part in a recording session for a solo album ofSyd Barrett 's (formerly ofPink Floyd , with whom the early Soft Machine had gigged regularly [ [http://www.cosmik.com/aa-may03/soft_works.html 2003 Cosmik Debris interview with Hugh Hopper] ] ). Hopper continued with the Softs, playing bass and contributing numerous compositions, until 1973. During his tenure the group evolved from a psychedelic pop group to an instrumental jazz-rock fusion band. In 1972, shortly before leaving Soft Machine, he recorded the first record under his own name, "1984" (named afterGeorge Orwell 's novel). This was a decidedly non-commercial record featuring lengthy solo pieces usingtape loop s as well as shorter pieces with a group.1973 until present
After leaving Soft Machine, through the end of the 1970s, he worked with such groups as
Stomu Yamashta 's East Wind, Isotope, Gilgamesh, and theCarla Bley Band. He also played in a couple of cooperative bands alongside former Soft Machine saxophonistElton Dean : Hopper/Dean/Tippett/Gallivan (with pianistKeith Tippett and drummerJoe Gallivan ) and Soft Heap (with keyboard-playerAlan Gowen and drummerPip Pyle ).In the early 1980s Hopper gave up playing music for a couple years, but by the mid-1980s he was actively working with several bands, including
Pip Pyle 's Equipe Out andPhil Miller 'sIn Cahoots . He also began playing with a group of Dutch musicians in a band initially called Hopper Goes Dutch. After French guitaristPatrice Meyer joined, this group became known as the Hugh Hopper Franglo-Dutch Band.After many years working primarily in instrumental, jazz-oriented groups including Short Wave, in the mid-1990s Hopper began occasionally working again in more rock-oriented vocal contexts, including several collaborations with the band Caveman Shoestore (using the name Hughscore) and with singer
Lisa S. Klossner . He also returned to his early tape loop experiments, but now using computer technology, in recordings such as "Jazzloops" (2002).In 2002, Hopper and three other former Soft Machine members (
Elton Dean , drummer John Marshall, and guitaristAllan Holdsworth ) toured and recorded under the name Soft Works. With another former Soft Machine member, guitaristJohn Etheridge , replacing Holdsworth, they have since toured and recorded as Soft Machine Legacy, playing some pieces from the original Soft Machine repertoire as well as new works. Three albums of theirs have been released until 2006: "Live in Zaandam" (CD, rec. 2005/05/10), "New Morning - The Paris Concert" (DVD, rec. 2005/12/12) and the studio album "Soft Machine Legacy" (CD, 2006, rec. 2005). On their tour in summer 2006,Theo Travis [http://www.theotravis.com/] has replaced Elton Dean who died in February 2006. Hopper also appeared on the 2004 debut solo album byNo-Man singerTim Bowness (My Hotel Year, onOne Little Indian Records.Other occasional projects are Soft Bounds (with French musicians Sophia Domancich and
Simon Goubert , first with Elton Dean and then Simon Picard), also Clear Frame, an improvising group with Charles Hayward,Lol Coxhill andOrphy Robinson (augmented for their first release byRobert Wyatt on cornet).Hugh has recently recorded two solo albums for, and established an online shop via, the highly regarded UK-based internet label,
Burning Shed [http://www.burningshed.com] .Hugh is working with Japanese musician and composer Yumi Hara Cawkwell as a duo called HUMI. They have a tour of Japan planned for early 2008.
Discography
*Soft Machine: "Volume Two" (1969)
*Soft Machine: "Third" (1970)
*Soft Machine: "Fourth" (1971)
*Soft Machine: "Five" (1972)
*Soft Machine: "Six" (1973)
*Hugh Hopper: "1984" (1973)
*Stomu Yamashta's East Wind: "Freedom is Frightening" (1973)
*Robert Wyatt: "Rock Bottom" (1974)
*Isotope: "Illusion" (1975)
*Hugh Hopper: "Hopper Tunity Box" (1977, re-released 2007)
*Hopper/Dean/Tippett/Gallivan: "Cruel But Fair" (1977)
*Carla Bley Band: "European Tour 1977" (1978)
*Gilgamesh: "Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into" (1978)
*Soft Heap (1978)
*Hugh Hopper/Alan Gowen: "Two Rainbows Daily" (1980)
*Pip Pyle's Equipe Out (1987)
*Phil Miller: "Cutting Both Ways" (1987)
*Hugh Hopper Band: "Alive" (1989)
*Hugh Hopper Band: "Meccano Pelorus" (1991)
*Lindsay Cooper: "Oh Moscow" (1991)
*Hugh Hopper & Kramer: "A Remark Hugh Made" (1994)
*The Wilde Flowers (1965-1969 recordings) (1994)
*Hugh Hopper: "Hooligan Romantics" (1994)
*Hugh Hopper Band: "Carousel" (1995)
*Hugh Hopper/Mark Hewins: "Adreamor" (1995)
*Hughscore: "Highspot Paradox" (1997)
*Hughscore: "Delta Flora" (1999)
*Hugh Hopper/Lisa S. Klossner: "Cryptids" (2000)
*Glass Cage: "Glass Cage" Paratactile (2001)
*Hugh Hopper: "Jazzloops" (2002)
*Soft Works: "Abracadabra" (2003)
*Polysoft: "Tribute to Soft Machine" (2003)
*Hugh Hopper/Julian Whitfield: "In a Dubious Manner" (2004)
*Hugh Hopper/Matt Howarth: "The Stolen Hour" (2004)
*Soft Machine Legacy: "Live in Zaandam" (2005)
*Soft Machine Legacy: "Soft Machine Legacy" (2006)
*Hugh Hopper/Elton Dean/Hoppy Kamiyama/Yoshida Tatsuya: "Soft Mountain" (2006)
*Hugh Hopper with Simon Picard, Steve Franklin, Charles Hayward: "Numero D'Vol" (2007)
*Soft Machine Legacy: "Steam" (2007)References
External links
* [http://www.burningshed.com Burning Shed records]
* [http://www.hugh-hopper.com Hugh's site (hosted by Burning Shed) including link to the Hopper Archives]
* [http://calyx.club.fr/interviews/hhopper.html 1999 Calyx interview with Hugh Hopper]
* [http://www.cosmik.com/aa-may03/soft_works.html 2003 Cosmik Debris interview with Hugh Hopper]
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=7744 Hugh Hopper] at [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/ allaboutjazz.com]
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