Musicians - Danny Thompson

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	Musicians - Danny Thompson

Danny Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is a British double bass player. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson (no relation) and John Martyn, but including many others: at various times has for example played with Roy Orbison, Freddie and the Dreamers, Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tom Paxton, and Kate Bush. For five years, he was a member of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, and he was a founding member of the British folk rock band Pentangle. Since 1987, he has also recorded four solo albums. He converted to the Muslim faith in 1990.

Biography and career

Danny Thompson was born in Teignmouth, Devon, in 1939. His father, a miner, joined the Royal Navy at the start of World War II and was lost in action whilst crewing submarines. When Thompson was aged 6, the family moved to London and he was brought up in the working-class area of Battersea. At school he excelled at football and played as a junior for Chelsea, the team he has supported ever since. Whilst at school he learnt guitar, mandolin, trumpet and trombone before settling on the double bass as his instrument of choice.

Stylistically he favours jazz. His improvisatory style is very distinctive and can usually be identified at first hearing. He routinely creates growling twangs as well as high-register figures that complement the music. He is noted for his extensive use of the bow, especially to create eerie high-pitched notes as well as thundering bass backgrounds.

While he has his own album releases, his highest profile recordings are currently with Richard Thompson e.g. Mirror Blue, The Old Kit Bag, and the concert DVD release Richard Thompson Live in Austin Texas, from the Austin City Limits series.

Like many musicians, Danny Thompson's life has featured brushes with substance abuse. During his partnership with John Martyn, their drinking and the excessive behaviour it spawned became the stuff of legend. In one incident related by Martyn, he woke up after passing out on a hotel room floor, only to find himself under the rug which Thompson had nailed down, leaving only his head exposed. Thompson went about his business, eating breakfast etc., ignoring Martyn's pleas to let him loose.

"Victoria"

Danny Thompson's initial experience of bass playing was with a Skiffle group, with whom he played a teachest bass. In the early 1960s he bought a second-hand double bass from an old man in Battersea who let him have the instrument for £5 (despite the fact that it was worth much more than that), on the basis of his keenness to play it. He christened the instrument "Victoria" and it has remained his instrument of choice ever since. The bass was built by the Gand, a French luthier, in 1865.

In the early part of the 1980's he worked closely with documentary film-maker, Roy Deverell and composed music for two of his award-winning films about John Aspinall's pioneering work with endangered mammals.

Partial discography

Alexis Korner's Blues Inc

Red Hot From Alex (1964)
Live At The Cavern (1964)
Sky High (1966)
Blues Incorporated (1967)
I Wonder Who (1967)
A New Generation of Blues (1968)

Pentangle

The Pentangle (1968)
Sweet Child (1968)
Basket Of Light (1969)
Cruel Sister (1970)
Reflection (1971)
Solomon’s Seal (1972)

Danny Thompson

Whatever (1987)
Whatever Next (1989)
Elemental (1990)
Whatever’s Best (1995)
Danny Thompson & Peter Knight (1995)

Others

Danny Thompson has played on dozens of albums during his career. The following is only a small selection.

Everything But The Girl: Amplified Heart (1994)
Kate Bush: The Dreaming (1982); Hounds Of Love (1985)
Christine Collister
: The Dark Gift Of Time (1998); An Equal Love (2001)
Barbara Dickson: Don’t Think Twice (1992); Dark End Of The Street (1995)
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left (1969)
Marvin Etzioni: Marvin The Mandolin Man (1992)
Marianne Faithful: North Country Maid (1966); The World Of Marianne Faithful (1970)
Davey Graham: Folk Blues & Beyond (1965); Large As Life & Twice As Natural (1968); Hat (1969); Fire In The Soul (1999)
Boo Hewerdine: Baptist Hospital (1995)
The Incredible String Band: The 5000 Spirits (1967); Hard Rope & Silken Twine (1973)
Bert Jansch: Birthday Blues (1969); Moonshine (1972); L.A. Turnaround (1974); Avocet (1979); Sketches (1990)
Alison Moyet: Hoodoo (1991)
Cliff Richard: Congratulations (1968)
Dawud Wharnsby Ali: Vacuous Waxing (2004)
Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells A Story (1971)
T Rex: Light Of Love (1974); Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders (1974)
Loudon Wainwright III: I’m Alright (1985); More Love Songs (1986); Therapy (1989)

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