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.
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BRUCE HAMPTON TICKETS
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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 yoga instructional 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 1990s 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.
Grammy-Award 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".
Discography
Main releases
thumb in 2007
- 1971 - Music to Eat
- Hampton Grease Band (Columbia Records)
- 1978 - One Ruined Life of a Bronze Tourist
- Col. Bruce Hampton (Terminus Records)
- 1980 - Outside Looking Out
- Col. Bruce Hampton and the Late Bronze Age (Terminus Records)
- 1982 - Isles of Langerhan
- Col. Bruce Hampton and the Late Bronze Age (Terminus Records)
- 1987 - Arkansas
- Col. Bruce Hampton (Terminus Records)
- 1992 - Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit
- Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit (Capricorn Records)
- 1993 - Mirrors of Embarrassment
- Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit (Capricorn Records)
- 1994 - Strange Voices: A History 1977-1987
- Col. Bruce Hampton (Landslide Records)
- 1996 - Fiji Mariners
- Fiji Mariners featuring Col. Bruce Hampton (Volcano Records)
- 1998 - Live
- Fiji Mariners featuring Col. Bruce Hampton (Volcano Records)
- 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 (Brato Ganibe Records)
- 2008 - Songs Of The Solar Ping
- Col. Bruce Hampton, Ret. (Brato Ganibe Records)
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)
- 2007 - The Benefit Concert, Volume 2
(Evil Teen Records)
As a guest musician
- 1981 - Route Two
- David Earle Johnson (Landslide Records)
- 1995 - The Best of CeDell Davis
– CeDell Davis (Fat Possum Records)
- 2000 - The Flower & the Knife
– Kevin Kinney (Capricorn Records)
- 2001 - Project Z
- Project Z (Terminus Records)
- 2002 - Uninvisible
– Medeski Martin & Wood (Blue Note Records)
- 2002 - Live in the Classic City
– Widespread Panic (Sanctuary Records)
- 2003 - Inside In
– Mike Gordon (Ropeadope Records)
- 2006 - Faces
– Blueground Undergrass (Landslide Records)
References