[Dixielandjazz] Ed Thigpen (London Times)

[Robert Ringwald]

Ed Thigpen: Jazz Drummer
London Times, January 18, 2010

"Of all the drummers who ever worked for me," recalled the late Oscar Peterson, "Ed
Thigpen was the neatest." Renowned for his exemplary technique with sticks, brushes
and even his fingertips, Thigpen was a percussion perfectionist. Yet he never lost
the ability to provide swing and movement for every group with whom he played, and
his sensitive use of the kit added timbral depth as well.
Edmund Leonard Thigpen was born in Chicago in 1930 into a jazz family. His father,
Ben Thigpen, was the drummer with Andy Kirk's big band, the Clouds of Joy, which
achieved national fame in the US when Ed was a boy. Although his parents separated
early in his life, and the boy went to live with his mother in Los Angeles, his father
had a profound influence on his playing, especially in the use of the brushes, at
which Thigpen excelled. His subtle brushwork earned him the nickname "Mr Taste",
which he used for the title of one of his latterday records in 1991.
Thigpen began his professional career with the West Coast jazz saxophonist Buddy
Collette and, after a spell playing rhythm and blues, he joined Duke Ellington's
former trumpeter Cootie Williams in the early 1950s. After army service, he went
to New York, and quickly established a reputation as a fine freelance drummer. He
had a particular aptitude for accompanying singers and worked with Dinah Washington
and Blossom Dearie. As well as playing for some of the era's leading saxophonists,
including John Coltrane, Johnny Hodges, Gil Melle, Paul Quinichette and Eddie "Cleanhead"
Vinson, he played in piano trios with Toshiko Akiyoshi, Bud Powell, Lennie Tristano
and Mal Waldron. At the time this was the creme de la creme of Manhattan's jazz scene,
and it prepared him perfectly for the invitation to join Oscar Peterson in 1959.
Until that point, Peterson had led a trio of piano, guitar and bass for almost ten
years. When his guitarist Herb Ellis left, Peterson decided not to replace him, but
to add a drummer instead, and thus with Thigpen's arrival the second so-called classic
Peterson trio was formed, with Ray Brown remaining as the group's bass player. If
anything, this band became even more popular than Peterson's earlier group, with
Thigpen's neat but propulsive drumming adding a greater drive to the band. "We always
felt that each of us was playing for the other two," said Peterson. "It's what gives
a group body, background and spirit."
Their albums such as Fiorello!, Live from Chicago and West Side Story all became
collectors' items, and newly discovered concert recordings of the trio in action
are still being issued.
In 1965 Thigpen left to join Ella Fitzgerald's backing group, and he worked with
her on and off until the early 1970s, although during that time he also made plenty
of freelance records with other musicians. He left in 1972 to move to Denmark, where
he married a local girl and settled. After his wife's death in 1981 he decided to
remain in Scandinavia to bring up his two children. As a result, Thigpen became a
member of the elite group of US expatriate musicians in Copenhagen, on hand to accompany
visiting soloists from all parts of the globe, and notably playing for such saxophonists
as Johnny Griffin, Benny Carter and Ernie Wilkins. His years in Peterson's trio also
made him a sought-after accompanist for other pianists and he toured and recorded
in Europe with such celebrated players as Teddy Wilson, Duke Jordan and Kenny Drew.
Thigpen made several records under his own name after his move to Europe, and in
the 1990s after his children had left home he began to visit the US again, working
with a variety of former colleagues and touring with European musicians. In Europe
he toured on several occasions in the mid-1990s with the all-star US saxophone group
Roots.
He was a committed teacher and after moving to Scandinavia he lectured at Malmo in
Sweden. He went on to teach at the conservatory in Copenhagen, and to work as a visiting
teacher at several other European music colleges. He wrote a number of instruction
manuals on drumming, of which The Sound of Brushes (1981) is his most distinguished.
It passes on a tradition that he inherited from his father and which he was worried
would die out unless his generation made efforts to pass its skills to younger players.
He was very much a traditional, orthodox player, sitting bolt upright at the drums,
and his deft style was marked by his economy of movement. He always eschewed flamboyance
and rabble-rousing solos in favour of subtle demonstrations of his mastery of all
aspects of jazz drumming.
Although suffering from Parkinson's disease, Thigpen was still playing regularly
until last October.
He is survived by a son and a daughter.
_____
Ed Thigpen, jazz drummer, was born on September 28, 1930. He died on January 13,
2010, aged 79.


--Bob Ringwald K6YBV
rsr at ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/806-9551

Check out our latest recording at www.ringwald.com/recordings.htm

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