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Ed Thigpen was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. on September 28, 1930. His father, Ben, was a superior drummer best known for his work with the Andy Kirk Orchestra. Ed, too, was to become a successful drummer. He began his professional career in the 1950s as part of the Cootie Williams Band and served in the military from 1952 to 1954, first as a drum instructor and later with the Eighth Army Band in Korea.
He first met Oscar Peterson in Japan by taking a side trip to Tokyo during his time in Korea.
"The Jazz at the Phil was there," he said. "Naturally, I knew Ben Webster and most of the guys because of my father. I was very young when I first met Ray (Brown), and he was very kind. He took me out and gave me a milk shake and sent me home." 1
Ed Thigpen had long wanted to be part of an Oscar Peterson group. "I told Ray in Japan, ‘The only thing wrong with this group is you need a drummer,' he said…."I need to play with this group. I love this group.' And they went out and proceeded to swing so hard I thought ‘Well, maybe I'll miss it, but I still would like to play with the group.' So it was four years later that I joined them. Yeah, it was a lot of pressure though. It was. Because whatever insecurities I had...I was in awe of those guys, I loved them, I really loved them, and when it's like that, you give everything you have. They were so heavy, so fantastic and, obviously, so acclaimed, that I was in awe of both of them. Ray was very kind. All the time. He just took me under his wing and saved me." 2
Ed Thigpen, sometimes called "a thinking man's drummer", replaced Herb Ellis as part of the Oscar Peterson Trio on Ray Brown's recommendation on January 1, 1959. (Before that he had spent time in New York working with such artists as Toshiko Akiyohi, Jutta Hipp, the Johnny Hodges band, Gil Melle, the Billy Taylor Trio, Lennie Tristano and Dinah Washington.)
Eddy Higgins, the editor of Down Beat in 1959, recalled that his work required him to "make the acquaintance of prominent jazz musicians and put in protocol appearances at their performances in Chicago. A legend has grown up that you have to hear Oscar Peterson in person and at length and preferably in intimate conditions to know the scope and beauty of his work. I know that legend well. I helped start it. And I started it because it's true. I would go to hear the group at the London House."
Ed Thigpen, Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown became close friends, noted Higgins.
"Soon, I was going to hear the trio night after night not out of duty but out of love of its music, and of the men who were making it. Sometimes, after the gig, Oscar and Ed would sit up late in his hotel room, where he had a small electric piano, and he would show me things on the instrument, including chord voicings."
‘I have always sought to play pianistically,' Oscar said. ‘I think most of the younger pianists don't want to face up to the job of mastering piano. And so who are my influences? I think one should be influenced by a format. I phone Ray and say, ‘You think you've got it today? Oh you do, do you? Well why don't you come on over, and we'll just see if you've got it. And pick up Thigpen on your way.' And they would play together by the hour. ‘Some of the best playing I've ever done,' Oscar said to me almost wistfully at the time, ‘has been in the basement with Ed and Ray.' Oscar, Ray and Ed, even when one or another of them wasn't ‘on' the trio was awesome. In my opinion, they were the greatest piano trio in the history of jazz." 3
Ed Thigpen recorded Live from Chicago, The Sound of the Trio, Oscar Peterson Plays: The Cole Porter Song Book, and The London House Sessions, with the Oscar Peterson Trio. In 1960, Peterson, Brown and Thigpen, with composer Phil Nimmons, established the Advanced School of Contemporary Music (ASCM) in Toronto. The trio also toured the eastern seaboard of the US for numerous concerts and night club engagements.
In 1965, Thigpen left the trio and relocated in Los Angeles to try his luck as a freelance musician. In 1972, he moved to Copenhagen to teach at the Malmö Conservatory while performing with his newly formed group, Action-Re-Action. He has written several manuals on drumming techniques and the author of Talking Drums (Toronto, 1965), Rhythm Analysis and Basic Coordination (Copenhagen, 1977).
Selected Recordings
Fiorello with Oscar Peterson Trio (1959, Verve 8366)
Porgy and Bess with Oscar Peterson Trio (1959, Verve 8340)
West Side Story with Oscar Peterson Trio (1962, Verve 68454)
The Jazz Harpis with D. Ashby: (1956, Reg. 6039)
Footnotes
1 Kernfeld, Barry. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1988.
2 Larkin, Colin. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. United Kingdom: Muze Ltd, 1988.
3 Lees, Gene. Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing. Rocklin, California: Prima Publishing & Communications, 1990.
O.P. & Friends
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