Bruce Hampton, iconic, absurdist rock guitarist . New York Times . NEW
YORK - Bruce Hampton, who was known as the granddaddy of the jam scene
for his energetic, eccentric guitar playing in a career that lasted
five decades, died in Atlanta on Monday. He was 70. Mr. Hampton, who
for years called himself "colonel" before officially adding the
abbreviated title to his name in 2000, collapsed on stage at the Fox
Theater in the waning moments of a concert in honor of his 70th
birthday, according to news reports and a family statement posted on
Twitter through the Tedeschi Trucks Band, whose members were in
attendance. The concert, billed as "Hampton 70: A Celebration of Col.
Bruce Hampton," was coming to a close with an encore performance of the
song "Turn On Your Love Light" when he collapsed, Blake Budney, manager
of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, said in a telephone interview. He was
taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, Budney said. "Last night
marks both a tragic loss of one of the great musical and mystical
heroes of our time, Col. Bruce Hampton, and a celebration of a man that
influenced, nurtured, and pushed the boundaries of all musicians and
human beings who were lucky enough to enter his welcoming and
inspirational sphere," the band said in a statement on its Facebook
page. Mr. Hampton, who grew up in Atlanta, first gained attention in
the late 1960s as the leader of the avant-garde Hampton Grease Band,
which The New York Times labeled variously as "one of the more cockeyed
rock groups" of the era and "a mischievous, mystifying group. The
Hampton Grease Band opened for a number of prominent groups, such as
the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. It also sometimes
played practical jokes. The band once opened a concert for a pop-rock
group by playing its own versions of that group's hits. The move
elicited boos, and the Hampton Grease Band responded with a lengthy
encore. In the decades that followed, Mr. Hampton would lead, join, or
help form a number of other acts, including the Aquarium Rescue Unit,
the Fiji Mariners, and the Code Talkers. "Bruce Hampton is the 1970s
rock star who wasn't: a comic, bearish, dadaist spieler with a deep
Georgia accent, a Dali in the body of a Southern wrestler," the Times
wrote in a 2001 review. Others labeled Mr. Hampton's music "surrealist.
In a video of an interview posted in June, he was asked who he was. In
an absurdist answer, he replied with a laugh: "It's a mix of 103
people. I'm not sure I exist.
