Hugh Hopper
Hugh Hopper (born 1945, Canterbury, England) is a bass guitarist and composer. In the mid-1960's he was a member of The Wilde Flowers, a pop music group that never released any records during its existence, but spun off two other groups that became well-known and influential, Soft Machine and Caravan.
Hopper's role with Soft Machine was initially as the group's road manager, but in 1969 he was recruited to be the group's bassist for their second record, Volume Two. He continued with the group, 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 after George Orwell's novel). This was a decidedly non-commercial record featuring lengthy solo pieces using tape loops as well as shorter pieces with a group.
After leaving Soft Machine, through the end of the 1970's, he worked with such groups as Stomu Yamashta's East Wind, Isotope, Gilgamesh, and the Carla Bley Band. He also played in a couple of cooperative bands alongside former Soft Machine saxophonist Elton Dean: Hopper/Dean/Tippett/Gallivan (with pianist Keith Tippett and drummer Joe Gallivan) and Soft Heap (with keyboard-player Alan Gowen and drummer Pip Pyle).
In the early 1980's Hopper gave up playing music for a couple years, but by the mid-1980's he was actively working with several bands, including Pip Pyle's Equipe Out and Phil Miller's In Cahoots. He also began playing with a group of Dutch musicians in a band initially called Hopper Goes Dutch. After French guitarist Patrice Meyer joined, this group became known as the Hugh Hopper Franglo-Dutch Band.
After many years working primarily in instrumental, jazz-oriented groups, in the mid-1990's 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 guitarist Allan Holdsworth) toured and recorded under the name Soft Works. With another former Soft Machine member, guitarist John 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. Two albums of theirs have been released until 2006: Live in Zaandam and the studio album Soft Machine Legacy. On their tour in summer 2006, Theo Travis [1] has replaced Elton Dean who died in February 2006. Hopper also appeared on the 2004 debut solo album by No-Man singer Tim Bowness (My Hotel Year, on One Little Indian Records.
Hugh has recently recorded two solo albums for, and established an online shop via, the highly regarded UK-based internet label, Burning Shed (www.burningshed.com).
Selected 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)
- 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)