Wednesday musical post: Memorial for Col. Bruce Hampton, retired

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I should have done a memorial post when Col. Bruce Hampton, retired, died a little while ago. You probably haven't heard of him, but he mattered. He was a musical weirdo who formed bands like The Aquarium Rescue Unit, which was the first major group for eventual Allman's bassist, Oteil Burbridge, along with guitarist Jimmy Herring, who has also played with not just the Allmans, but basically every improvisational rock group around. Bruce was a wacky guy who was basically the vision guy. He taught everyone around him to loosen up and look for different ways to play. He wasn't much of an instrumentalist. He wasn't a vocalist-extraordinaire. He was a band-leader. His place in music is something you don't understand unless you trace out the threads and see how much everything connects back to him. He mattered. Here he is, with the Allman Brothers.

Also, you get Nels Cline, who plays guitar for Wilco. I'm not really much of a Wilco fan. I prefer Son Volt, since I was more of a Jay Farrar fan than a Jeff Tweedy Fan, but Uncle Tupelo was big for me. Anyway, here's Bruce, and it all traces back to Gregg, too.