Biography

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Alan Hampton is a New York-based singer and songwriter of elegant, jazz-informed pop pieces, best known as a studio and touring bassist/vocalist for a diverse roster of artists that has included Andrew Bird, Meshell Ndegeocello, the New Pornographers, and Robert Glasper. As a young musician, he studied jazz bass performance at a series of prestigious music schools, attending the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts before relocating to New York City for college at the New School, which he followed up with the Thelonious Monk Institute in Los Angeles. At the latter, he had the opportunity to study bass with the likes of Ron Carter and Charlie Haden, and perform internationally with Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. While he began as strictly a bassist, artists including Gretchen Parlato and Clare & the Reasons began asking him to also sing backup after hearing his voice, which led to other dual-assignment gigs as well as voice-only work. In 2011 he released his solo debut, The Moving Sidewalk, an impressive set of delicate, acoustic-feeling songs that blended the sounds of vocal jazz, '60s baroque pop, indie folk, and French Impressionist classical. The album helped to spread word of Hampton's skills and scope, and among many other sideman jobs, he served as bassist and backing vocalist for Andrew Bird's 2012 album Hands of Glory and subsequent tours. Meanwhile, Hampton contributed to recordings including but not limited to jazz drummer Kendrick Scott's Conviction, indie pop band Lucius' Wildewoman, and Gretchen Parlato's Grammy-nominated Live in NYC, all released in 2013. His collaborations with Bird continued, with Hampton performing on Bird's 2014 Handsome Family cover album, Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of... (and tour), and Bird appearing on Hampton's sophomore long-player, Origami for the Fire, issued later that year. He also served as bassist for Bird's 2016 LP, Are You Serious. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi