Hopper, Hugh / Picard, Simon / Franklin, Steve / Hayward, Charles

Numero D'vol

Label: MoonJune Records Country: USA

"Free improvisations that grooves from fuzz-bass and Canterbury icon Hugh Hopper and his latest project. For those who think that free jazz is inherently unapproachable, Numero D'Vol proves that it's possible to be completely spontaneous while creating music with an instinctive focus. Saxophonist Simon Picard, keyboardist Steve Franklin and drummer Charles Hayward join Soft Machine Legacy's Hopper for a session that proves there's even room for a backbeat in purely improvised music. There's also space for contemporary textures and a touch of ambient music as Franklin layers synth washes underneath his more oblique pianism. Picard, also a member of guitarist Phil Miller's In Cahoots, brings an angular lyricism to this hour-long experiment in rhythm-based collective interaction.

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When it comes to a long and diverse career ranging from psychedelic space and progressive rock to free jazz and everything in between, there's only one bassist who's done it all: Hugh Hopper. Hopper may not be a virtuoso by conventional definition, but his strong voice, potent grooves and innovative textures have made him an essential and unmistakable component of every project with which he's been associated.

Hopper was there at the beginning of the British Canterbury scene. A charter member of the under-recorded but vastly influential Wilde Flowers, Hopper joined the legendary Soft Machine in late 1968, and can be heard on many of the group's classic jazz/rock albums including Third (1970) and Fourth (1971). It was there that Hopper met Elton Dean. Despite the saxophonist/pianist's free jazz leanings and Hopper's more compositional approach, the two found much common ground, and their paths would continue to intersect on a regular basis up until Dean's unexpected passing in 2006.

Now in his early 60s, Hopper is busier than ever, his significance increasingly appreciated by new generations of musicians and fans. With Numero D'Vol and Soft Machine Legacy ramped up for greater exposure by MoonJune, 2007 promises to be a busy year for an artist who continues to evolve on the widest possible variety of musical fronts."-Moon June