By Major Darst

Hans Lennart Haagen Ipsen was born August 27, 1949 in Brondbjerg Nordjylland, Denmark. He moved to Bothell, Washington with his family as a youngster.

During his extensive and active performing career Hans performed with Mountain Heath, Albert Collins, Doug Kershaw, Merrilee Rush, Bob Nixon, Little Bill and the Bluenotes , Rich Dangel, Gregg Rolie, (Santana, Journey ), Jimi Holden, The Bill Mattocks Band, The Dana Osborn Group, and Fat Cat. Hans has also opened for numerous national recording artists such as; Tower of Power, Ballinjack, Paul Butterfield, Cab Calloway, Pink Floyd, John Mayall, Bonnie Raitt, Charles Brown, Roomful of Blues and The Count Basie Orchestra.

Hans was the recipient of the Washington Blues Society award for guitarist of the year in 1996, and Best New Band (Fat Cat) in 1998.

I first met Hans Ipsen in 1993 when I auditioned for a group called Bluetown. The audition was held in the basement of Hans’ house in Bothell. The other guys at the audition where Bear Barrus, Tim Tennis and Jim Busch. Hans let us practice in his basement because Bear was a friend of his and we didn’t have any other place to practice. We would rehearse for awhile and then we would walk outside on the porch and take a smoke break. Hans would usually come out and talk with us during these breaks.

It never occurred to me that I would one day be in a band with Hans, I always had considered Hans on a higher level musically than we were. One day Bear told me that Hans wasn’t playing with Little Bill and the Bluenotes any more. I thought it was strange that such a great guitarist was just hanging out and not playing in a band. I bugged Bear a lot to try and talk Hans into playing with our band. I don’t think Bear really thought it was possible that Hans would join up with us. Then for some reason, Hans decided to play with us. I never asked him why or how this decision came about.

We called ourselves Black Cat Bone and the band consisted of Hans, Bear, me, Pat Gossan, Joe Hinchey and John Santiago. Hans really loved the sound of a horn section, something he had become accustomed to in Little Bill and the Bluenotes. Hans decided to incorporate a horn section into our band. The initial horn section consisted of Robbie Jordan, Randy Oxford and Hadi Al-Saadoon. About this time we also changed our name to Fat Cat, named after Hans’ overweight pet cat. We had sort of a revolving horn section for awhile, we worked with Michael Mathews, Scotty Harris, Brian Kent, Kevin Peachy and Brian Hartman most often. We played all over Seattle and western Washington, even venturing into central and eastern Washington occasionally.

One of the things Hans always stressed to me was the importance of playing dynamically, listening to the other musicians and blending my part effectively with them. He was a mentor, not a formal teacher. I learned by watching how he played as I stood beside him in a hundred smoke filled bars at twelve minutes to midnight. Nothing was written down, he never once told me what to play, he expected me to know what to play. He did expect me to listen and not play over the top of everyone. He also expected me to raise and lower my volume level with the ebb and flow of the song.

Hans was a gentle and kind man, full of love for those around him. He had a wonderful sense of humor and a very giving nature. He was patient with me even though playing guitar did not come as naturally to me as it did to him.

I’m very proud to have played in Fat Cat with Hans for the past 11 years. Hans has been a huge part of my life and he will be a big part of the vision that I will carry forward into the future. I will think of him and miss him everyday.

A video was created for the Hans Ipsen memorial by Krys Lilly. Here is a link to the Hans Ipsen Memorial video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Ig_-OdoJC8

Hans is survived by his wife Lyn, his daughters Taylor and Ali, and his son Andre.