Donald Winston Thompson, OC

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 (born 18 January 1940) is a Canadian jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 who plays bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

, piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, and vibes

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

. Thompson formed part of the Toronto Quartet of Paul Desmond

Paul Desmond

Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...

 during the mid seventies, and that effort produced two stellar albums. Other personnel on those dates, mostly at Bourbon Street in Toronto, were Toronto guitarist Ed Bickert

Ed Bickert

Edward Isaac "Ed" Bickert, CM is a Canadian jazz guitarist.-Early life:Second youngest of his family, Bickert was born in Hochfeld, Manitoba; his family moved shortly after he was born to Vernon, British Columbia...

 and drummer Jerry Fuller. Thompson has been a fixture on the Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 jazz scene since the late 1960s when he moved there from British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. Thompson played for a long time in Rob McConnell

Rob McConnell

Robert Murray Gordon "Rob" McConnell, was a Canadian jazz valve trombonist, composer, arranger, music educator, and recording artist.-Biography:...

's Boss Brass.

Biography

Thompson was born 18 January 1940 Powell River

Powell River, British Columbia

Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, that part of the larger Georgia Strait between Texada Island and the Mainland...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

He lived in Vancouver from 1960 to 1965 working as a freelance musician primarily on bass. He has appeared with jazz troupes led by some of Vancouver's finest musicians such as Dave Robbins

Dave Robbins

Dave Robbins was an influential American-Canadian trombonist, composer, arranger and teacher. Born in Greensburg, Indiana, Robbins studied music education at Sam Houston State Teachers' College and the University of Southern California. After a stint in the US Marine Corps Robbins worked as a...

, Chris Gage and Fraser MacPherson

Fraser MacPherson

John Fraser MacPherson, CM was a Canadian jazz musician born in St. Boniface, Manitoba.He moved to Victoria, British Columbia as a child, where he learned piano, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones...

, as well as leading his own musical groups. In addition to appearing regularly on CBC

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

 radio, he is also on television as a featured artist.

In 1965 he joined the now legendary John Handy Quintet and moved to San Francisco for a two year stay. During that time the Handy Quintet performed extensively throughout the United States and recorded two albums for the Columbia label. One of these, John Handy live at the Monterey Jazz Festival, became one of the most popular jazz albums of the 1960s. While in San Francisco Don also worked with Frank Rosolino

Frank Rosolino

Frank Rosolino was an American jazz trombonist.- Biography :Born in Detroit, Michigan, Frank Rosolino studied the guitar with his father from the age of 9. He took up the trombone at age 14 while he was enrolled at Miller High School where he played with Milt Jackson in the school's stage band and...

, Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...

, Denny Zeitlin

Denny Zeitlin

Denny Zeitlin is an American jazz pianist and composer, and a clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco...

 and George Duke

George Duke

George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...

.

He returned to Canada in 1967 and has been a resident of Toronto since 1969. In that year he joined Rob McConnell

Rob McConnell

Robert Murray Gordon "Rob" McConnell, was a Canadian jazz valve trombonist, composer, arranger, music educator, and recording artist.-Biography:...

's BOSS BRASS as a percussionist, switching to bass in 1971 and later to piano (1987–1993). He was also a member of Moe Koffman's group from 1970 to 1979 as pianist or bassist, contributing arrangements and compositions and working as co-producer with Koffman on two albums, Museum Pieces and Looking Up. He also worked extensively with guitarists Ed Bickert

Ed Bickert

Edward Isaac "Ed" Bickert, CM is a Canadian jazz guitarist.-Early life:Second youngest of his family, Bickert was born in Hochfeld, Manitoba; his family moved shortly after he was born to Vernon, British Columbia...

, Lenny Breau

Lenny Breau

Leonard Harold "Lenny" Breau was a musician, guitar player, and music educator. He was known for blending many styles of music including: jazz, country, classical and flamenco guitar...

 and Sonny Greenwich

Sonny Greenwich

Sonny Greenwich was born in Hamilton, Ontario on New Years Day of 1936. He is a Canadian Avant-garde jazz guitarist. He has played in major Canadian and American cities including a concert at Carnegie Hall. He has performed with such 'greats' as Charles Lloyd, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy...

 while keeping busy with his own various projects.

As a member of the "house rhythm section" at Toronto's Bourbon Street Jazz Club he worked (and recorded *) with such Jazz Celebrities as Paul Desmond

Paul Desmond

Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...

, Jim Hall

Jim Hall (musician)

James Stanley Hall is an American jazz guitarist.-Biography:Educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he began to attract national, and then international, attention in the late 1950s...

, Milt Jackson

Milt Jackson

Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...

, Art Farmer

Art Farmer

Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...

, James Moody

James Moody (saxophonist)

James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation based on "I'm in the Mood for Love"; in performance, he often improvised vocals for the tune.-Biography:James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia...

, Zoot Sims

Zoot Sims

John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...

, Clark Terry

Clark Terry

Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...

, Harry Edison, Frank Rosolino

Frank Rosolino

Frank Rosolino was an American jazz trombonist.- Biography :Born in Detroit, Michigan, Frank Rosolino studied the guitar with his father from the age of 9. He took up the trombone at age 14 while he was enrolled at Miller High School where he played with Milt Jackson in the school's stage band and...

, Slide Hampton

Slide Hampton

Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...

, Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...

 and Abbey Lincoln

Abbey Lincoln

Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...

, and appeared at other venues with Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

, Red Rodney

Red Rodney

Robert Roland Chudnick , who performed by the stage name Red Rodney, was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...

, Joe Henderson

Joe Henderson

Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...

, Dewey Redman

Dewey Redman

Dewey Redman was an American jazz saxophonist, known for performing free jazz as a bandleader, and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett....

, Red Mitchell

Red Mitchell

Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927, New York City - November 8, 1992, Salem, Oregon, was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. He was the brother of Whitey Mitchell....

, Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Jordan has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to a notable solo career....

 and Kenny Wheeler

Kenny Wheeler

Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....

.

He became a member of guitarist Jim Hall's trio in 1974 travelling to Europe and Japan as well as touring the United States and Canada. In 1982 he joined pianist George Shearing

George Shearing

Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...

 and stayed for a five year period during which he appeared at virtually every major jazz club and festival in the United States. Their travels also included tours of Great Britain and two trips to Brazil.

In 1996 he was artist in residence at the Royal Academy of Music, London, England, and performed in a concert of all-Canadian music with fellow Canadians Kenny Wheeler and Hugh Fraser

Hugh Fraser (musician)

Hugh Alexander Fraser is a Canadian jazz musician known for his work as a pianist, trombonist and composer.- Life and work :Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Fraser studied with Dave Robbins in Vancouver, Slide Hampton in New York, and Kenny Wheeler in London...

. He teaches regularly at the Banff

Banff, Alberta

Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....

 Centre for the Performing Arts along with other major international musicians.

Don is currently working as a freelance musician, teacher, member of the band JMOG and as leader of his own quartet.

He is equally at home on vibes, piano, bass and drums, and is a reliable and trusted sound engineer with his own home-studio.

Awards

• 1979: Juno – Best Jazz album – duo with Ed Bickert
• 1984: Juno – Best Jazz Album
• 1993: Jazz Report – Vibraphonist of the Year
• 1994: Jazz Report – Composer of the Year
• 1994: Jazz Report – Vibraphonist of the Year
• 1994: Socan – Original Jazz Composition
• 1995: Jazz Report – Vibraphonist of the Year
• 1996: Jazz Report – Vibraphonist of the Year
• 1997: Jazz Report – Vibraphonist of the Year
• 2006: Juno – Best Traditional Jazz Album
• 2009: Order of Canada
  Order of Canada
  The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
  
  , Officer (awarded on 25 May 2009; invested on 3 September 2010)

As leader

• Love Song for a Virgo Lady Sackville 2003
• Country Place PM PMR 008
• Ed Bickert/Don Thompson Sackville 4005
• Don Thompson/Ed Bickert Sackville 4010
• Days Gone By Atlas LA 27 1019
• Beautiful Friendship Concord CJ 243
• Witchcraft Justin Time Just 16-2
• Circles Intercan ICI008
• Bells Umbrella GEN 1-16
• Winter Mist Jazz Alliance TJA 10004
• For Kenny Wheeler Sackville SKCD2-2078
• Forgotten Memories Roadhouse Route3 (released 2000)

As sideman

with Jim Hall:

• Jim Hall Live A&M Horizon SP 705
• Commitment A&M Horizon SP 715
• Jazz Impressions of Japan A&M GXU-1
• Live in Tokyo Paddlewheel - GP3217
• Circles Concord CJ 161
• Live at Town Hall Musicmasters - 5050 2-C

with John Handy:

• Live at Monterey Koch KOC 3-7820-2
• The Second Album Columbia CS 9367
• Live at Yoshi's Nightspot Boulevard BLD 531 DCD

with Paul Desmond:

• Like Someone in Love Telarchive CD 83319

with Jay McShann:

• Man from Muskogee Sackville SKCD2-3005
• Tuxedo Junction Sackville 3025
• Just a Lucky So and So Sackville 3035
• Swingmatism Sackville CD2-3046

with Buddy Tate:

• The Ballad Artistry Sackville CD2-3034
• Saturday Night Function (Sackville All Stars) Sackville SKCD2-3028

with Frank Rosolino:

• Thinking of You Sackville 2014

with George Shearing:

• Live at the Café Carlyle Concord CCD-4246
• George Shearing/Barry Tuckwell Concord CCD-42010

with Mel Tormé:

• A Night at Charlies Concord CJ 248
• Top Drawer Concord CJ 219

with Rob McConnell & the Boss Brass:

• Big Band Jazz Umbrella UMB CD-4
• Again Umbrella UMB CD-12
• Present Perfect MPS 0068 249
• Tribute Pausa 7106
• Live in Digital SeaBreeze CD-SB-106
• The Brass is Back Concord CCD-4458
• Brassy and Sassy Concord CCD-4508
• Our 25th Year Concord CCD-4559

with Sonny Greenwich:

• The Old Man and the Child Sackville C2002
• Sun Song CBC Transcription RCI 399
• Evol-lution Love's Reverse PM PMR 016

with Pat LaBarbera:

• Pass it On PM PMR 009
• Necessary Evil CBC Transcription 478

with Emily Remler:

• Take Two Concord CCD 4159

with Dave Liebman:

• Sweet Fury BeBop to Now BBN 1002

with Bill King:

• The Jazz Report All Stars Radioland RA CD 10001

with Moe Koffman

Moe Koffman

Moe Koffman, OC was a Canadian jazz musician and composer. He played the flute, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone and clarinet...

:

• Solar Explorations GRT 9230-1050
• Museum Pieces GRT 9230-1072
• Master Sessions GRT 9230-1041

with Rob McConnell Trio:

• Three for the Road Concord CCD-4765-2

with Diana Panton

Diana Panton

Diana Ariadne Panton is a Canadian jazz vocalist. Her second album, "If the Moon Turns Green", received a nomination for the Juno Awards of 2009 in the category of Vocal Jazz Album of the Year....

• ...Yesterday Perhaps (2005),
• If The Moon Turns Green (2007),
• Pink (2009)
• To Brazil With Love (2011)