Chris Hopkins was born in Princeton, New Jersey (USA) on April 18th 1972. When still a child, Chris' family moved to Germany where he has spent most of his life. He began playing music at the age of six, and started with training in classical music, at first on the harpsichord. When Chris was about thirteen years old he got a hold of an old Jazz LP and was immediately captured by the spirit of this special music, which soon turned out to be his main interest. Still in school he led his own band and due to his talent, passion and engagement for jazz quickly made himself a name in the jazz scene. He nowadays resides in Bochum (near Düsseldorf), Germany from where he frequently travels to concerts and jazz festivals all over the world - playing piano and alto sax.

Chris' piano playing is deeply rooted in the fascinating and highly demanding tradition of 1920s to 1940s Stride and Swing piano. His style reflects imports from James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and Willie ”the Lion“ Smith via Count Basie and Jess Stacy up to Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson and Johnny Guarnieri a.o. Combining all these influences to form his own very personal sound and approach, Chris is already internationally regarded as one of the biggest talents in this field proving a sensitive accompanist as well as tasteful soloist with a broad repertoire and stylistic knowledge.

Chris is also the leader of the well-known group “Echoes of Swing” in which he plays the alto sax, finding inspiration in the legacy of Pete Brown, Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges. The exciting combo which covers a wide range of unusual material from sophisticated chamber music to hot swinging jazz has recorded 4 albums by now and is already celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2007.

Travelling through Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Fiji-Islands he has accompanied and recorded with many renowned international musicians, i.e. Howard Alden, Tom Baker, Dan Barrett, Bob Barnard, Lillian Bouttée, Kenny Davern, Harry „Sweets“ Edison, Jim Galloway, Bob Haggart, Jeff Hamilton, Jake Hannah, Peanuts Hucko, Hazy Osterwald, Ken Peplowski, Bent Persson, Scott Robinson, Randy Sandke, Antti Sarpilla, Dick Sudhalter, Clark Terry, Warren Vaché, Joe Wilder, Jackie Williams, Roy Williams, Louis Bellson, Kenny Burrell and many others.

Since 1998 Chris has been regularly invited to perform at the "International March of Jazz" in Clearwater, Florida where - over the years – he has had the opportunity to share the stage with such legendary jazz stars as Flip Phillips, Benny Waters, Milt Hinton, Ruby Braff, Joe Bushkin, Buddy De Franco and Ralph Sutton.

Other special events in Chris’s musical biography include extended European tours in 2001 and 2003 with the “International Stride Piano Summit” playing duets with fellow pianists Louis Mazetier, Bernd Lhotzky, Rossano Sportiello and Dick Hyman as well as several tours including or lead by Dan Barrett which resulted in CD-projects such as “Portrait of Duke Ellington”, “Sophisticated Swing” and “Dan Barrett's International Swing Party – Live at Birdland”.

Among the 25 CDs he has recorded three albums were produced on the American label "Arbors Records" - one of them his critically acclaimed piano solo album "Daybreak".

"Chris Hopkins´ recital of stride piano was a revelation." George Hulme, International Association of Jazz Records Collectors

"...es ist schon höchst beachtlich und derzeit gewiss auch eine Ausnahmeerscheinung, dass sich ein Pianist in so jugendlichem Alter Jazzpiano-Stilistiken der 20er bis 40er Jahre zuwendet und das mit einer Intensität, die Hopkins in kurzer Zeit zu einer beachtenswerten Meisterschaft in diesen Genres geführt hat ... mit technischer Perfektion ... und unter Vermeidung jeglicher purer Imitate hat er zu einer ureigenen Vortragsweise gefunden. Ein Jazzmusiker mit Zukunft, wozu die vorliegende CD ["Daybreak"] ein überzeugender Meilenstein ist." Gerhard Hopfe, Jazz Podium

"I am enjoying the Chris Hopkins CD. The first track is so much like Teddy Wilson that I was amazed." Dick Hyman

"Hopkins plays each [tune] as if it were brand new. With his light touch and a definite sense of humour, and an ability to find the essence ..." Bob Powers

"Daybreak"... is a lovely disc, marvellously refreshing ... one that you listen to over and over again because of the true emotion that flows from it." Jean-Marc Berlière, Jazz Classique, Paris

"Count Basie would have been proud of this young man." Harry "Sweets" Edison

"Die bemerkenswertesten solistischen Beiträge kommen vom Basie-orientierten Pianisten Chris Hopkins..." Felix Janosa, Jazz Zeitung

"[Hopkins played]... an ingenious remodelling of Ellington's "The Mooche", maintaining an insistently hypnotic yet remarkably unobtrusive, modified stride bass as a vamp for his creative variations... It was altogether a mesmerizing tour de force..." (report from the New Orleans Jazz Ascona Festival 1999). W.Royal Stokes, Editor of "Swing Era New York"

"... blossoming pianistic talents ... in full evidence.". Jersey Jazz

"Hopkins cuts it effortlessly with idiosyncratic progressions, rhythmic motifs and counter melodies ... elegant and cheerful tunes played with panache and precision ... strong and imaginative left hand figures ....". Barry Witherden, Jazz Review

"... this man shows great sensitivity and maturity". June Mawdsley, Review Australia

"A young, very excellent player who can imply the styles of young Earl "Fatha" Hines and Duke Ellington plus a host of swinging striders while creating his own assured, interesting solos. (Review: "Swedish Jazz Kings: It's right here for you"). Ted des Plantes

"...Pianist Christian Hopkins ... ist eine Entdeckung. Was für ein Feeling der Junge hat!" (Tagebuch zum 8.International Jazzfestival at Sea, 1994). Joe Viera, Mitbegründer "Int. Jazz-Woche Burghausen", Autor und Dozent

"Hervorzuheben ist auch Chris Hopkins, der natürlich nicht den Duke immitiert, dennoch mit mit einzigartiger Einfühlung in dessen Stil einen wesentlichen Gesamtbeitrag zur Gesamtstimmigkeit des Projekts "Portrait of Duke Ellington" leistet. Jazz Podium

When I attended the 1998 Arbors Records International March of Jazz in Florida I felt that this ´Wunderkind´Chris Hopkins presented a breath of fresh air with his swing-oriented and stride-inspired piano playing. Siegfried H. Mohr, California, USA, Free correspondent "Bulletin du Hot Club de France"

"Chris Hopkins is one of the most talented piano players I've heard. I just flipped when I first heard him because he's not yet out of his twenties and, although his playing reflects the study of the men who created jazz piano, he brings his own ideas to the table." Dan Barrett