Father of the jam band scene, Col. Bruce Hampton passed away earlier this week after collapsing on stage at his 70th birthday celebration. While tragic, Hampton was surrounded by dozens of friends and family celebrating his life and contributions to the jam scene for nearly four hours. Truth be told, it’s a hell of a way to go.

One of the friends on stage that fateful night was Jon Fishman, drummer for Phish. Fishman has professed his love (literally) for Hampton throughout the years. The clip below gives the backstory on Jon belting our a heartfelt version of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” to Hampton on stage.

In searching for the zillions of collaborations that Hampton has been apart of over the years, I found an especially tasty one that happened 24 years ago yesterday in Albany. Col. Bruce Hampton’s band Aquarium Rescue Unit only jammed with Phish a few times and May 5th, 1993 was one of those awesome shows were universes collided.

In the second set, Phish launched into phan favorite “You Enjoy Myself” near the end of the set and welcomed Aquarium Rescue Unit to join them for a wild and crazy jam midway through the tune. The jam features incredible solos from Jimmy Herring and Trey Anastasio, a great jazzy scat session from Oteil Burbridge, Trey howling gibberish on the megaphone and so much more.

The crazy jam sessions courtesy of Hampton and ARU push this YEM into legendary status. R.I.P. Col. Bruce Hampton.

Thanks to mkcool18 for the share.