Bruce Hampton

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Bruce Hampton
Bruce Hampton at the 2007 Riverbend Festival
Bruce Hampton at the 2007 Riverbend Festival
Background information
Birth name Gustav Berglund III
Born 1947
Origin Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Genre(s) Rock, Fusion
Instrument(s) Guitar
Years active 1960s - present
Label(s) Brato Ganibe, Capricorn, Columbia
Associated acts Hampton Grease Band
Late Bronze Age
New Ice Age
Aquarium Rescue Unit
Fiji Mariners
The Quark Alliance
Website bratoganibe.com
Notable instrument(s)
Chazoid

Bruce Hampton (born Gustav Berglund III in 1947) is a surrealist American musician. In the late 1960s he was a founding member of Atlanta, Georgia's avant-garde Hampton Grease Band. Adopting the moniker Colonel Bruce Hampton, Retired, and sometimes playing a sort of dwarf guitar called a "chazoid", he later formed several other bands, including The Late Bronze Age, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Fiji Mariners, The Codetalkers, and his most recent project, known as Col. Bruce and The Quark Alliance..

Contents

[edit] Career

As a member of the Hampton Grease Band, Bruce Hampton helped record the 1971 album Music to Eat, said to have been the second-worst-selling album in Columbia Records history. The worst selling album was a spoken word record.

Hampton's band The Late Bronze Age consisted of Hampton B. Coles, Ret. (Bruce Hampton) on vocals, slide guitar, mandolin, and chazoid; Ben "Pops" Thornton (Billy McPherson) on vocals, guitar, saxophones, and keyboards; Lincoln Metcalfe (Ricky Keller) on bass, guitar, brass, and vocals; and Bubba Phreon (Jerry Fields) on drums, percussion, trombone, and vocals.

Hampton helped start the 1990's seminal H.O.R.D.E. tours. The best known of his bands to play H.O.R.D.E. is the jazz-rock outfit Aquarium Rescue Unit, which featured improvisational music all-stars Oteil Burbridge, Jimmy Herring, Rev. Jeff Mosier, Matt Mundy, and Jeff Sipe.

Hampton played Morris, the songwriting band manager, in Billy Bob Thornton's 1996 film Sling Blade. He also starred in Mike Gordon's 2001 film Outside Out teaching guitar 'out'struction. Basically Frightened, a film chronicling Hampton's career, has not yet been released.[1]

Grammy-nominated blues singer and longtime friend Susan Tedeschi wrote a song about Bruce called "Hampmotized." It appears on her 2002 release Wait For Me. Hampton returned the favor on his most recent album with the song "Susan T".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Main releases

  • 1971 - Music to Eat - Hampton Grease Band
  • 1978 - One Ruined Life of a Bronze Tourist - Col. Bruce Hampton
  • 1980 - Outside Looking Out - Col. Bruce Hampton and the Late Bronze Age
  • 1982 - Isles of Langerhan - Col. Bruce Hampton and the Late Bronze Age
  • 1984 - Arkansas - Col. Bruce Hampton
  • 1992 - Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit - Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit
  • 1993 - Mirrors of Embarrassment - Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit
  • 1994 - Strange Voices: A History 1977-1987 - Col. Bruce Hampton
  • 1996 - Fiji Mariners - Fiji Mariners featuring Col. Bruce Hampton
  • 1998 - Live - Fiji Mariners featuring Col. Bruce Hampton
  • 2000 - Bootleg Live! - The Codetalkers featuring Col. Bruce Hampton
  • 2004 - Deluxe Edition - The Codetalkers featuring Col. Bruce Hampton (re-released in 2007 as Dee-lux Uh-dish-un)
  • 2006 - Now - The Codetalkers
  • 2007 - Give Thanks To Chank - Col. Bruce & The Quark Alliance
  • 2008 - D.U.S.T. - Col. Bruce Hampton, ret. (future release)

[edit] With various artists

  • 1994 - The Best of Mountain Stage Live, Vol. 6 (Blue Plate Records)
  • 1997 - Mucho Mojo: Best of Fat Possum (Capricorn Records)
  • 2000 - Wintertime Blues: The Benefit Concert (Evil Teen Records)
  • 2003 - Bonnaroo, Vol. 2 (Sanctuary Records)

[edit] As a guest musician

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Basically Frightened official website

[edit] References

[edit] External links