Bruce Hampton

Bruce Hampton (born Gustav Valentine Berglund III; April 30, 1947 – May 1, 2017) was an American musician. He was a key figure in the Atlanta music scene, mentoring numerous other musicians who became national stars. His own musical style was avant-garde, combining elements of jazz, fusion, southern rock, and jam band styles.

He first rose to prominence as the leader of the Hampton Grease Band. Adopting the moniker Colonel Hampton B. Coles, Retired or alternatively Col. Bruce Hampton Ret., and sometimes playing a small custom-made electric guitar/mandolin hybrid he called a "chazoid", he later formed several other bands, some of whose names include The Late Bronze Age, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Fiji Mariners, The Codetalkers, The Quark Alliance, Pharaoh Gummitt, and Madrid Express.

Career As a member of the Hampton Grease Band, Bruce Hampton helped record the 1971 album Music to Eat. According to legend, this was the second-worst-selling album in Columbia Records history, with the worst being a yoga record. Hampton's band The Late Bronze Age consisted of "Col. 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. They performed several songs in Getting It On, a 1983 film.

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. In 1994, Hampton formed the progressive rock/jazz duo Fiji Mariners and recorded two albums on Capricorn Records with Dan Matrazzo who simultaneously played keys, drums, and bass. Later, Ricky Fargo, Marcus Williams joined on drums and Joseph Patrick Moore joined on bass.

Hampton was the voice of Warren, a talking potted shrub, in a 1998 episode ("Warren") of Space Ghost Coast to Coast on Cartoon Network. Hampton played Morris, the songwriting band manager in the1996 film, Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton starred in the movie). Hampton also portrayed a guitar 'out'structor in Mike Gordon's Outside Out (2000).

Longtime friend Susan Tedeschi wrote a song about Bruce called "Hampmotized." It appears on her 2002 release Wait For Me. Hampton returned the favor with the song "Susan T". Basically Frightened: The Musical Madness of Col. Bruce Hampton, Ret. is a documentary about Hampton. It premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in March 2012. Georgia governor Nathan Deal presented Hampton with the Governor's Award In The Arts and Humanities in 2012. In 2014, Hampton made a cameo in the music video for rap group Run The Jewels' single "Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1".

In Here Comes Rusty (2015), Hampton portrayed the lead character, Dicky, alongside co-stars Fred Willard, Joey Lauren Adams, and Brandon Niederauer. The film debuted at the Atlanta Film Festival in 2016, but was not commercially available until 2020.

70th birthday concert and death On May 1, 2017, Hampton was honored by his friends at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta for his 70th birthday. Dubbed Hampton 70: A Celebration of Col. Bruce Hampton, it was an all-star concert featuring Widespread Panic members John Bell, Dave Schools, Duane Trucks, and Jimmy Herring; blues guitarist Tinsley Ellis, Peter Buck of R.E.M, steel guitarist Darick Campbell, saxophone player Karl Denson, Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon, Jon Fishman of Phish, banjo player Rev. Jeff Mosier of Blueground Undergrass, guitarist Warren Haynes, Drivin N Cryin frontman Kevn Kinney, Atlanta jazz-staple Johnny Knapp, Chuck Leavell; Athens rock-troubadour T. Hardy Morris, 13-year-old guitar prodigy Brandon Niederauer, slide guitarist Derek Trucks and blues singer Susan Tedeschi of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Popper of Blues Traveler, funk bassist Kevin Scott, keyboardist Matt Slocum, Denny Walley of Frank Zappa fame, gypsy-metal guitarist Emil Werstler, Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers, and MLB pitcher Jake Peavy. Billy Bob Thornton was scheduled to appear but did not attend. The event was produced by Good Times Productions with the proceeds benefiting the Fox Theatre Institute and other musician-focused charities.

During the encore performance of the show, Hampton suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed on stage. Onlookers and his fellow musicians initially either did not notice that Hampton had collapsed, or thought it was a ruse due to his history of falling down onstage during performances and other practical jokes. As a result, Hampton lay face down at Niederauer's feet, his left arm draped over a stage monitor, as Niederauer soloed on "Turn on Your Love Light". The band played for several minutes before Hampton was taken offstage; he died shortly thereafter at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta. 2012 – Back To The Woods: A Tribute To The Pioneers Of Blues Piano – Chuck Leavell (Evergreen Arts / Red) 2012 – Wood – Widespread Panic (Widespread Records) 2015 – Soul Brother Where Art Thou? - Greg Hester (Ropeadope)

Acting credits Tombstone, 1993, bar patron (uncredited) Sling Blade, 1996, Morris Space Ghost Coast to Coast, 1998, TV series, 1 episode, Warren Outside Out, 2001, Hampton Duckworth, 2011, TV short, snake charmer Here Comes Rusty, 2016, Dicky St. Jon Gilda Sue Rosenstern: The Motion Picture!, 2018, Mr. Lives in His Van, final role