Fred Hopkins


Fred Hopkins was an American double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was best known for his association with the trio Air with Henry Threadgill and Steve McCall, and for his numerous performances and extensive recordings with major jazz musicians such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Arthur Blythe, Oliver Lake, and David Murray. He was a member of the AACM, and a frequent participant in the loft jazz scene of the 1970s. He also co-led a number of albums with the composer and cellist Diedre Murray. Gary Giddins wrote that Hopkins' playing "fused audacious power with mercuric reflexes." Howard Reich, writing in the Chicago Tribune, stated that "many connoisseurs considered the most accomplished jazz bassist of his generation" and praised him for "the extraordinarily fluid technique, sumptuous tone and innovative methods he brought to his instrument."

Biography and career

Hopkins was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and grew up in a musical family, listening to a wide variety of music from an early age. He attended DuSable High School, where he studied music under "Captain" Walter Dyett, who became well known for mentoring and training musicians. He was originally inspired to learn the cello after seeing a performance by Pablo Casals on television, but was told by Dyett that because the school didn't have a cello, he would have to play bass. After graduating from high school, he worked at a grocery store, but was encouraged by Dyett and other friends to pursue music more seriously. He soon began playing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where he was the first recipient of the Charles Clark Memorial Scholarship, and studying with Joseph Gustafeste, principal bassist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the time, as well as picking up piano duo gigs.
In the mid-1960s, Hopkins attended a concert by AACM members at Hyde Park and was intrigued. He began playing with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, with whom he would make his first recording in 1970, and started becoming more serious about improvisation, playing with Muhal Richard Abrams's Experimental Band and other related groups. Hopkins stated that a major inspiration at that time was hearing John Coltrane's Coltrane's Sound: "it really changed my whole outlook on music. I knew then that I could do anything I wanted to do... And from that point on, I just got more involved, and started meeting more people over the years."
In the early 1970s, he formed a trio called Reflection with saxophonist Henry Threadgill and drummer Steve McCall. In 1975, he, like many other Chicago free-jazz musicians, left and moved to New York, where he soon regrouped with Threadgill and McCall, who also moved there at around the same time. They renamed their trio Air, and went on to tour and record extensively. He also joined the AACM, immersed himself in New York's loft scene, and, over the following decades, increasingly gained recognition, gigging with Roy Haynes and performing and recording with artists such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Hamiet Bluiett, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, Arthur Blythe, Oliver Lake, David Murray, Diedre Murray, and Don Pullen, as well as with various groups led by Threadgill.
In 1997, he moved back to Chicago, stating that he "got tired of the stress" of living in New York, and reuniting with "ten brothers and sisters and 35 nieces and nephews". He continued to perform, tour, and record with a wide variety of musicians. He died in 1999 at age 51 of heart disease at the University of Chicago Hospital.

Discography

As co-leader with [Diedre Murray]

Firestorm Stringology Prophecy
With AirAir Song Live Air Air Raid Air Time Open Air Suit Montreux Suisse Air Lore Air Mail 80° Below '82 Live at Montreal International Jazz Festival

As sideman

With Ahmed AbdullahAhmed Abdullah and the Solomonic Quintet
With Muhal Richard AbramsColors in Thirty-Third The Hearinga Suite
With Hamiet BluiettResolution Ebu The Clarinet Family ...If You Have to Ask... You Don't Need to Know Im/possible To Keep
With Arthur BlytheIn the Tradition Illusions Blythe Spirit
With Charles BrackeenAttainment Worshippers Come Nigh
With Peter Brötzmann and Rashied AliSonglines
With Peter Brötzmann and Hamid DrakeThe Atlanta Concert
With Marion BrownAwofofora
With John CarterDance of the Love Ghosts Fields Shadows on a Wall
With Andrew CyrilleOde to the Living Tree
With Marc EdwardsBlack Queen
With Kahil El'ZabarLove Outside of Dreams
With The Group Live
With Craig HarrisBlack Bone
With Tyrone HendersonNot So Unusual Blues
With Michael Gregory JacksonGifts
With Frank LacyTonal Weights and Blue Fire
With Oliver LakeHolding Together Expandable Language Otherside Gallery
Performing music of Anne LeBaronThe Musical Railism of Anne LeBaron
With Michael MarcusHere At!
With Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre
With Marcello MelisFree to Dance
With Jemeel MoondocJudy's Bounce
With Butch MorrisTestament: A Conduction Collection - Conduction 38, In Freud's Garden / Conduction 39, Thread Waxing Space / Conduction 40, Thread Waxing Space
With David MurrayLow Class Conspiracy Flowers for Albert: The Complete Concert Vol. 1:Penthouse Jazz Vol. 2:Holy Siege On Intrigue Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club Sweet Lovely Live at Sweet Basil Volume 1 Live at Sweet Basil Volume 2 In Our Style Recording N.Y.C. 1986 The People's Choice Ballads Deep River Spirituals Lovers Tenors Special Quartet David Murray Big Band David Murray/James Newton Quintet Death of a Sideman South of the Border For Aunt Louise Love and Sorrow MX Live '93 Acoustic Octfunk Dark Star: The Music of the Grateful Dead
With Sunny Murray's Untouchable FactorApple Cores
With Bern NixAlarms and Excursions
With Ivo PerelmanChildren Of Ibeji
With Don PullenWarriors The Sixth Sense
With Horace TapscottDissent or Descent
With Malachi ThompsonRising Daystar
With Henry ThreadgillX-75 Volume 1 When Was That? Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket Subject to Change You Know the Number Easily Slip Into Another World Rag, Bush and All
With Tom VarnerTom Varner Quartet
With the World Bass Violin EnsembleBassically Yours
With the World Saxophone QuartetBreath of Life
With Various artistsWildflowers 1: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions Wildflowers 2: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions Wildflowers 3: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions Wildflowers 4: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions Wildflowers 5: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions - Complete