Claude Hopkins with Buddy Tate & Joe Thomas
Biographie Claude Hopkins with Buddy Tate & Joe Thomas
Claude Hopkins
Often overlooked by historians, Claude Hopkins was a major contributor to the development of early jazz and swing music. He was an incredibly gentle yet powerful stride pianist who could perform both ballads and hot numbers with equal virtuosity. Hopkins also wrote and arranged many compositions of his own and in collaboration with other artists like J.C. Johnson and Bud Freeman.
Hopkins grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and learned to play piano at age seven. He studied music and medicine at Howard University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree, and later attended the Washington Conservatory. He worked with several bands while in college and formed his own group in 1924 for an engagement in Atlantic City, after which he spent a brief period with Wilbur Sweatman before forming another group of his own.
In September of 1925 Hopkins traveled to Europe, where he became Josephine Baker's musical director, touring Europe with her revue. He then led his own band in Italy and Spain in 1926 before returning to the states in the spring of that year. He worked with several groups of his own until taking over Charlie Skeete's orchestra in 1930. Hopkins band was a regular performer at the Savoy Ballroom in 1930, the Roseland Ballroom from 1931 to 1935, and the Cotton Club in 1935 and 1936.
Hopkins recorded often during the early and mid-1930s but was silent from 1937 to late 1939, when he led the band on extensive tours. He entered the studio again in early 1940 for the AMMOR label. Vocalists for the band were Orlando Roberson, who was known for hitting the high notes, and trumpeter Ovie Alston. Standout musicians included clarinetist Ed Hall, trumpeter Jabbo Smith, saxophonist Bobby Sands, trombonists Vic Dickenson and Fernando Arbello. In the late 1930s Hopkins occasionally fronted the band, allowing other pianists to take his instrument.
