Tom Warrington

[Andy Allen]

A long time ago in a thread far, far away, Ray wrote;

Originally Posted by Ray Parker

Look up Tom Warrington. I'm not sure if he teaches, but he a bad dude. And hilarious to boot.

I'm surprised there's not been more about him here - this was one of the few mentions that I found.

I was lucky enough to get to see Tom at a little (but hideously expensive ) wine bar locally. I had been listening to his albums ("Corduroy Road" and "Back Nine" ) and saw the notice for his gig at the last minute, so I rushed down in time to catch his last set. Great and extremely 'musical' playing - wonderful interaction between him, Larry Koonse on guitar and Joe LaBarbera on drums.

I got to speak with them afterwards - apparently they don't get the opportunity in their schedules to play together much, so I was lucky to catch them. Oh, and although he lives here in LA, Tom only teaches out of University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he is on the faculty.

He has such a great warm sound on the albums, and it is equally good live. More info at his web site http://www.tomwarrington.com/pages/index.html , or at Jazz Compass records
.

[msw]

I remember hearing two great bass players with Buddy Rich in the 70's.....both on electric. They were Jon Burr and Tom Warrington. I was amazed shortly after to learn they were both strong acoustic players as well.
Come to think of it, Buddy had a succession of great bass players in that decade and the next: Dave Carpenter,Tom Warrinton, Jon Burr, the late Wayne Pedzwater (sp), Mike Boone and the list goes on.

[Aaron Saunders]

Strange connection...Joe LaBarbera's older brother, Pat (tenor player) would've probably been playing with Tom during his days with Buddy Rich.

I haven't heard Tom Warrington, but I'm on my way to the AMG to check out some clips.

[Jeremy Allen]

Originally Posted by Aaron Saunders

Strange connection...Joe LaBarbera's older brother, Pat (tenor player) would've probably been playing with Tom during his days with Buddy Rich.

Where there's one LaBarbera, another is bound to be nearby; Joe and Pat's brother John played trumpet and did the arranging in Buddy's band for twenty years or so. I played a big band gig with all three of them not so long ago in Louisville.

Tom Warrington came here to do some teaching/playing last year, and his playing was really fabulous. Very creative solos, and a serious gig-hardened pro. He plays a lot with drummer Steve Houghton, who teaches here at IU; Steve and Joe LaBarbera went to school together and both played in Woody Herman's band and are great friends, and Steve's latest live album features tenor saxophonist...Pat LaBarbera, naturally! It's a circle of LA dudes who came up in the mid/late seventies (athough Pat, the eldest, was on the scene before then).