RELEASES
RELEASES
Releases
After 27 years directing this band and 47 years at Berklee College of Music Greg Hopkins directs his farewell.
special guests
Bill Pierce, Tim Ray, Eugene Friesen, Yoron Israel
student accordionist Giorgio Albanese
and Juan Andrés Ospina
Wednesday April 27, 2022 8 pm at the Berklee Performance Center 136 Massachusetts Avenue Boston
Celebrating playwright Iván Acosta, With a Cuban song in the heart, Hispanic Heritage Month, Cuban culture and song in Boston, October 5-7, 2018. Live Cuban Jazz with a stellar ensemble directed by Greg Hopkins featuring pianist Anibal Cruz with special guest David Oquendo, vocals and guitar.
After an especially frigid end to this New England winter, we’re likely all craving a bit more warmth and light. Local musicians seem to be answering that call. At a time of constant division and negativity, the albums being released have a tinge of optimism and hope that can seem almost subversive. Whether it’s a longtime rocker like Adam Sherman finding his “Gratitude” or the explosive MC and producer MO the Great inviting us to join her in “Drinks of Hope,” or Naomi Westwater offering the full cycle of a year, or fascinating concept records from jazz great Greg Hopkins and rockers Lady Pills and Hallelujah The Hills, there will be no shortage of music to match the season.
December 2014 Boston Globe
“The crystalline glow of Kris Adams’s singing, along with her technical assurance and emotional commitment, make this a standout vocal album, but the arrangements by her Berklee colleague Greg Hopkins put it over the top. Hopkins worked with Adams on seven of the 11 tracks, sometimes with as many as 10 pieces, including cello. The varied material ranges from Joni Mitchell’s “The Dawntreader” and Michel Legrand’s “Once Upon a Summertime” to Mary Lou Williams’s “What’s Your Story Morning Glory?,” a couple of pieces by the British singer Norma Winstone (including the title track), and Adams’s own lyric setting of Steve Swallow’s “Wrong Together.””
December 2013 A Taste of Jazz
Greg Hopkins Quintet + One's Reality Check
Trumpeter Greg Hopkins teams up with an ensemble of the highest order. I’m talking about musicians’ musicians – featuring tenor man Billy Pierce, veteran of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Tony Williams Quintet.
December 2013 Jazz Inside
“Masters of musical dialogue”; that’s how leader Greg Hopkins describes his creative cohorts on this album. And who could dispute him? It’s evident from the first note that there is a rich connection that’s taken place throughout these recording sessions and between the participants involved. This record, essentially, is about seasoned vets that have nurtured their sound for a significant amount of time. And here are the results of their diligent road work and artistic commitment....
JUNE 2004 JAZZTIMES
Greg Hopkins, out of Boston, taps two vastly underrated players on Quintology (Summit): tenor saxophonist Bill Pierce and guitarist Mick Goodrick. (Bassist Jim Stinnett and drummer Gary Chaffee complete the lineup.) Except for a midtempo arrangement of “Here’s to My Lady,” all the tunes are by Hopkins, a gifted writer whose difficult lines and insightful harmonizations seem tailor-made for this instrumentation.
MARCH 31, 2001 THE BOSTON GLOBE
The new CD, Okavongo, and a pair of upcoming concerts by Greg Hopkins and his 16-Piece Jazz Orchestra should confirm that Hopkins is one of Boston’s greatest jazz resources. Over lunch Monday, the trumpeter-composer discussed his journey from Motown session man and self-taught orchestrator to Berklee writing guru with the same enthusiasm, wide-ranging curiosity, and personal style that stamps his music.