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Double Bass Don Thompson

#41
arto alho said:
I know Paul Desmond did a live recording with Ed Bickert and Don Thompson ( Toronto about 1977...), I dont´t remember who played drums on that but I´m pretty sure he was also one these Toronto guys. I´d be interested if someone knows how to get a hold on that record. Paul, maybe?
R2
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This is a vinyl released in 1975 on Horizon. The drummer was Jerry Fuller. This was one of those well put together packages with the double cover, two records even! filled with stories about the witty, musically and verbally, altoist.This is also another instance of Don Thomsons ability record the music and play at the same time! Like most people, i've always been fascinated about Desmonds musical quotes. The thing is, for me, the way he places the quotes....rather than on beat one, he'll start in the middle of the bar and extend it over the bar lines. As i've said, another good thing about being older is that you recognize the quotes, where sometimes they go over younger players heads.
The only info that might help you find this is that Apparentely Horizon was a side label of A&M Records. Hopefully, it's been re-released on CD.
 
#42
It was! Sort of. This is actually previously unreleased material from the same time. The same musicians. I'd give it ***** It's that good.

Paul Desmond Quartet
Like Someone In Love
Telearchive CD # 83319

Recorded at Bourbon Street Mach 29 1975
 
#47
bass_means_LOW said:
Wow, that brings back memories! Yeah, Scotty sounded much like Ray Brown on that record, at least to my ears.
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I agree...he was just getting his chops together. This is also the period when Scotty recorded his first record with Pat Moran, the lady pianist who single handedly got me the gig with Bill Evans.
He also did a session with Hamp Hawes and Harold land , I think called "For Real" ??
 
#48
Paul Warburton said:
I agree...he was just getting his chops together. This is also the period when Scotty recorded his first record with Pat Moran, the lady pianist who single handedly got me the gig with Bill Evans.
He also did a session with Hamp Hawes and Harold land , I think called "For Real" ??
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For Real is a great record. I already have that one on CD. Hampton Hawes is under-appreciated, I think.
 
#49
"Ed Bickert is my stock retort to anyone who argues that you can't play straight-ahead jazz on anything but a big box."

Sorry to dredge up an old thread but I just can't resist spouting off about one of my pet peeves. In the late '70s I got tired of lugging my Johnny Smith into gigs so I bought a Les Paul and it truly sounded better for jazz than the J.S. Besides that, I now had time to devote to making music instead of fighting feedback.

Teles sound even better IMHO and they are inexpensive, durable and simple to work on. I love big boxes and own a great sounding archtop but I would only take it to a coffee-house gig these days. For anything else I would grab one of my two Teles and either of them is capable of that Bourbon St. (Toronto) sound at will.
 
#50
Being as this old thread has been resurrected, we spent last week in Disneyworld. Their network carried the BET Jazz channel. One of the programs featured the Bickert Trio probably from the 80s judging by the clothes and hair. Don Thompson was amazing. During the week I saw several good players but none came close to Thompson (Ron Carter was featured on another program but as far as I am concerned, was unimpressive).

As soon as I got home, I spent some time reading up on Mr. Thompson and am in the process of ordering some of the Trio's stuff.
 
#53
Steve Killingsworth said:
Being as this old thread has been resurrected, we spent last week in Disneyworld. Their network carried the BET Jazz channel. One of the programs featured the Bickert Trio probably from the 80s judging by the clothes and hair. Don Thompson was amazing. During the week I saw several good players but none came close to Thompson (Ron Carter was featured on another program but as far as I am concerned, was unimpressive).



As soon as I got home, I spent some time reading up on Mr. Thompson and am in the process of ordering some of the Trio's stuff.
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There is a concert that has played on Bravo and BET of Ed that was filmed in Montreal with Don on bass. Do you know who the drummer was? This concert is from the late 90's. Sometimes it can be hard to judge the year/decade by the clothes these guys wear ;)
 
#55
Bass Boy said:
There is a concert that has played on Bravo and BET of Ed that was filmed in Montreal with Don on bass. Do you know who the drummer was? This concert is from the late 90's. Sometimes it can be hard to judge the year/decade by the clothes these guys wear ;)
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I cannot remember the guy's name but he had a Beatles-style haircut and a moustache. His playing was very understated and tasteful.
 
#57
scott reed said:
It might have been Barry Elmes.
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That's him. I found his photo on another site and he is the guy from the concert video.
 

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#58
I discovered this thread a little late but here goes.

I studied a bit with Don back in the 80s at the Banff Jz Workshop and elsewhere. He's a warm, generous, unassuming man that, IMHO, is one of the greatest musicians of our generation. Our own (Canadian) Milt Jackson, Scotty Lefaro and Bill Evans all rolled into one.

One of my all time favourite records since I first heard it in 1981 is the "At A Garden Party" duo recording with Bickert that has finally been released on CD. It has a couple of tracks with Terry Clark added on drums. If you don't yet have it yet, get it. Check out Don's solo on "What Is This Thing Called Love" and his lovely legato phrasing on "You Are Too Beautiful" (and Bickert's beautiful understated solos like on the little known Feldman tune, "A Face Like Yours").

Apparently they didn't know what tunes to do until they sat down to record that night, and there's enough on that recording to keep us bassists (and guitarists) busy for a lifetime of study. I'm still working on transcribing Don's solos from that recording (to Don's dismay... he isn't big on transcribing, but he did admit to memorizing Red's solo on "I'll Remember You" with Hampton Hawes back in the 60's).
Personally I think transcribing lines & memorizing solos by our heroes and playing them with the recordings is the best practice time you can invest in. Out of that your own voice will eventually come out, and it's fun... which is what it's all about, right?

A little about his conception advice, Don told me to spend lots of time on the piano... to be both a pianist and bassist. He also stressed thinking like a singer when soloing... to think "How would Sassy or Streisand phrase this?"

For those of you interested in spending some time with Don, I think he still teaches at Banff Alberta and the Victoria BC summer jazz workshops.

Another excellent Canadian bassist many guys still don't know about is Neil Swainson. Although he's mostly been with Shearing (since Don left that chair), Neil has been on some Concord recordings and has his own record out that he did with Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson some years ago. Solid time, great sound, perfect intonation, very strong soloist. He deserves wider recognition too.

Cheers!
 
#59
Yeah James.....I have Garden Party and you're right. I think Don is the most lyrical bassist around along with Michael Moore and Jim Ferguson, that great bassist/singer down in Nashville. I try to play in that bag too....at least coming right out of Red. I think our own Chris and Mike are heading in this direction, so at least a few of us are deriving what Red has handed down...thank God. I don't know about Mike, but I find it interesting that all these guys are all directly linked to the piano.....except me and I don't know about Jim, but all these guys can play the piano.
Of course, Don can play vibes, drums, bass and piano in such a masterly way.......he's not just a multi-instrumentalist but a MASTER on EACH instrument!!
He was doing one of those jazz cruises and Mel Torme slipped a note under the door of his room....It said "If you play drums again tonight....you're a dead man!"
 
#60
I just got a copy of At A GArden Party on CD and it is impressive. All of this talk about Ed Bickert reminded me of a quote from the liner notes of Paul Desmond's "Live". Speaking of Ed Bickert he says: "All I know about Ed's home is that it's on the western side of Canada (since both Don Thompson and Jerry Fuller, among many others, came from Vancouver, they must be doing something terribly right out there)." So there you have it, three musucians from the same region that produced some memorable jazz. The Don Thompson / Ed Bickert combination is a sure-fire winner.

Apparently the splendor of British Columbia must be very stimulating to the parts of the human psyche that create jazz. Having spent many years of my life living on the front range of the Colorado Rockies I can attest that beautiful vistas do have a way of inspiring creativity. Denver is home to some incredibly good jazz musicians many of whom love living there. Since moving (actually, I consider it an exile) to the Sonoran Desert of eastern Arizona my jazz has become a bit rocky, arid and infested with thorns. :)
 

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