Oteil Burbridge On Col. Bruce Hampton’s Master Plan

While bassist Oteil Burbridge wasn’t on hand at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta for Hampton 70 on May 1, he weighed in with a few thoughts on his mentor the next morning after Col. Bruce Hampton’s passing. Burbridge followed up his initial brief thoughts on Col. Bruce with a more lengthy and extremely beautiful and wise post on OteilBurbridge.com.

Oteil starts off by discussing the influence Col. Bruce had on his playing. “Bruce showed me that WE are the instruments. So I allowed Bruce to retune me. And then I saw and heard things that were right under my nose but never perceived. He was constantly pointing out extra terrestrials sitting at a restaurant or bus stop. How did I not see it before? How did all these people around us not see it? Or he would laugh at something and I would look in the direction he was looking and at that exact moment witness something totally crazy happen. How did he know it was going to happen? Every time?” Burbridge wrote.

The bassist went into detail on many of the lessons he learned from Hampton during his years in Aquarium Rescue Unit and beyond including “to lose it to gain” and finishes off the essay with his thoughts on the way Bruce died. He wrote, “If I told you the story of how Colonel Bruce died you would insist I was exaggerating,” a thought he’s not alone in having. Head here for the entire essay from Oteil Burbridge.

Read the end of Oteil’s blog entry which shares his theory on Hampton’s passing:

Make no mistake, I truly believe Bruce knew he was going to die this way. No one will ever convince me otherwise. By now you’ve probably seen his quote from the ’60’s about man’s highest ambition being to die onstage. Come on folks! He’s been spoon feeding us all along. But it was never about him. He was always about helping others to see their own power and magic, and pranking those who didn’t see it yet for whatever reason. I watched him freak out so many people over the years in so many different crazy, unpredictable, cosmic ways. Like some sort of spiritual hit man, he got one person after another with such glee and playfulness. And in his very last second on earth he got the most people at one time that he ever did.

If I told you the story of how Colonel Bruce died you would insist that I was exaggerating…

Died the day after he was born.

In front of a sold out show at the Fox in his hometown.

The most tickets he ever sold on his own.

His 70th birthday.

Surrounded by musicians that he touched and inspired, all coming to pay tribute so he wouldn’t be yet another that died not getting his due honor.

During the encore.

Which was his favorite song: Lovelight.

Which is also the first song he ever performed live.

And everyone thought he was joking them.

Who would believe me?

But there were so many witnesses this time. More than ever before. There’s proof. He got us all in such a big way that it “made the papers.” Just in case you doubted the first 70 years worth of legends, he saved his most spectacular one for last. He made such a Classical Hamptonian exit that there is no room for those doubts to live on.