I\'m A Badass Caption: I can haz links, style or anything that is valid markup :)

Other: Hugh Hopper Passes Away

Posted on Thursday, July 16 @ 04:32:07 UTC by nightowl

From Wayside Music: "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: www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/arts/music/11hopper.html

And a particularly good one from the Independent: 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: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6473171.ece

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

And a nice appreciation by Jim Allen: 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: www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=29328

And a good interview from 1998 with some typical Hugh humor and history: 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: udi-koomran.blogspot.com/2009/06/hugh-hopper-rip.html"

Posted in Band News (tours, comings/goings, etc)