The new John 'Hoppy' Hopkins Collection
Posted on 6th Apr 2021 by John Rosie
The National Jazz Archive is excited and honoured to display online a collection of photographs by John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins (1937 to 2015), who was an iconic leader of the 1960s ‘counter-culture’ movement in Britain.
‘Hoppy’, a jazz fan and social activist, captures this heady, fast-moving period in a series of evocative images. Artists such as Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth (shown above from 1962), Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk and Ray Charles are documented alongside images of CND demonstrations, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Allen Ginsberg and fellow beat poets, and the newly-arrived Beatles and Rolling Stones.
In her tribute to Hopkins, photographer, writer and National Jazz Archive patron, Val Wilmer, credits Hopkins with introducing her to avantgarde jazz icons such as Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra.
The 'Hoppy' Hopkins collection is a rich resource for those researching or simply interested in this pivotal moment in history.
The National Jazz Archive is most grateful to the trustees of the John Hopkins Archive and the ElliottHalls Gallery, Amsterdam for granting permission to display his work.