Hugh Hopper – Soft Machine – er død

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Hugh Hopper var en af de første og centrale medlemmer af den legendariske Canterbury Scene-gruppe Soft Machine. Han gik i skole sammen med vennen Robert Wyatt og var med, da Soft Machine lagde ud med ders første psychedelisk inspirerede debutalbum. En kort periode fungerede han som bandets road manager, men var ellers musikalsk aktiv frem til 1973. Hans basspil og leg med tekniske muligheder i studiet – fx båndsløjfer etc. – satte deres umiskendelige præg på Soft Machines fire første plader. I 1973 udsendte han sin første soloplade, 1984, og forlod Soft Machine til fordel for jazzen, i form af Stomu Yamasta, Carla Bley m.fl. Han gav selv udtryk for, at han var begyndt at kede sig i Soft Machine og ønskede at søge nye musikalske oplevelser. I stedet trådte Roy Babbington ind i Soft Machine, hvor ham blev de næste seks år. Hopper holdt dog kontakten til de gamle musikalske venner og var bl.a. med på Robert Wyatts roste “Rock Bottom” album i 1974. For et års tid siden fik han konstateret leukemi. Hvil i fred.

2 thoughts on “Hugh Hopper – Soft Machine – er død”

  1. Fra Steve Feigenbaum – http://cuneiformrecords.com/

    HUGH HOPPER, the bassist and composer who first made his mark in creative music as a member of Soft Machine during their most ground-breaking period from 1969-1973, died on June 7. He had been suffering from leukemia for some time. In addition to his considerable musical talents both as a performer and a composer, he was a terrific person that I am proud to say I had many opportunities to work with. He was very friendly, very approachable and tremendously funny in his dry way. He bore the weight of ‘the soft machine legacy’ with a lot of grace and charm and humor and he always found time for a friendly talk with fans and admirers. He had the rare gift of having an immediately identifiable sound as a composer and as a musician – within a couple of musical bars, you could tell it was Hugh Hopper playing or someone trying to imitate him. He was one of my original musical heroes when I first discovered ‘progressive’ music in my early teens, and a fair chunk of the Cuneiform catalog is associated with him and his work. All of us here at Cuneiform can not begin to express our pleasure and gratitude at having had the opportunity to be able to have worked with him for so long or our sadness at his passing.

    Here’s a very nice obituary from the N.Y. Times
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/arts/music/11hopper.html

    and a particularly good one from the Independent
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hugh-hopper-innovative-bassist-with-soft-machine-and-stalwart-of-the-canterbury-scene-1703161.html

    In the UK Times
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6473171.ece

    and TWO very nice appreciations from Sid Smith
    http://sidsmith.blogspot.com/2009/06/hugh-hopper-1945-2009.html
    http://sidsmith.blogspot.com/2009/06/podcast-from-yellow-room-ix-dedicated.html

    and a nice appreciation by Jim Allen
    http://blog.limewire.com/posts/19371-rip-soft-machine-bassist-hugh-hopper/

    and a good interview from 2008 (last year he toured) at All About Jazz
    http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=29328

    and a good interview from 1998 with some typical Hugh humor and history
    http://panmodern.com/hugh_hopper.html

    and lastly a nice appreciation from Udi Koomran that includes a very excellent duo improvisation between Hugh and Chris Cutler
    http://udi-koomran.blogspot.com/2009/06/hugh-hopper-rip.html

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