Ed Thigpen

Edmund Leonard "Ed" Thigpen (December 28, 1930 – January 13, 2010 ) was an American jazz drummer, best known for his work with the Oscar Peterson trio from 1959 to 1965. Thigpen also performed with the Billy Taylor trio from 1956 to 1959.

Biography
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Thigpen was raised in Los Angeles, California and attended Thomas Jefferson High School, which was also attended by Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon and Chico Hamilton. After majoring in sociology at Los Angeles City College, Thigpen returned to East St. Louis for one year to pursue music while living with his father who had been playing with Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy. His father Ben Thigpen was a drummer who played with Andy Kirk for sixteen years during the 1930s and 1940s.

Thigpen first worked professionally in New York City with the Cootie Williams orchestra from 1951 to 1952 at the Savoy Ballroom. During this time he played with musicians such as Dinah Washington, Gil Melle, Oscar Pettiford, Eddie Vinson, Paul Quinichette, Ernie Wilkins, Charlie Rouse, Lennie Tristano, Jutta Hipp, Johnny Hodges, Dorothy Ashby, Bud Powell, and Billy Taylor.

In 1959 he replaced guitarist Herb Ellis in the Oscar Peterson Trio in Toronto, Canada. In 1961 he recorded in Los Angeles, featuring on the Teddy Edwards–Howard McGhee Quintet album entitled Together Again for the Contemporary label with Phineas Newborn, Jr. and Ray Brown. After leaving Peterson, Thigpen recorded the album Out of the Storm as a leader for Verve in 1966. He then went on to tour with Ella Fitzgerald from 1967 to 1972.

In 1974 Thigpen moved to Copenhagen, joining several other American jazz musicians who over the past two decades had settled in the city. There he worked with fellow American expatriates, including Kenny Drew, Ernie Wilkins, Thad Jones, as well as leading Danish jazz musicians such as Svend Asmussen, Mads Vinding, Alex Riel and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He also played with a variety of other leading musicians of the time, such as Clark Terry, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Milt Jackson and Monty Alexander.

Ed Thigpen died peacefully after a brief period in Hvidovre Hospital (Copenhagen, Denmark) on January 13, 2010. He is buried at Vestre Kirkegård.

Awards and recognition
He was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2002.

As leader

 * 1961: Trio: Live from Chicago (Verve Records)
 * 1966: Out of the Storm (Verve Records)
 * 1974: Action-Re-Action
 * 1990: Young Men and Olds (Timeless Records)
 * 1992: Mr. Taste (Justin Time Records)
 * Stunt Records
 * 1990: Easy Flight
 * 1998: It's Entertainment
 * 2002: Element of Swing
 * 2004: #1

As sideman
With Gene Ammons With Dorothy Ashby With Kenny Burrell With Kenny Drew With Art Farmer with Jutta Hipp With Mundell Lowe With Howard McGhee an Teddy Edwards with Gil Mellé with Billy Taylor with Paul Quinichette and Charlie Rouse with Eddie Vinson with Oscar Pettiford with Oscar Peterson With Paul Quinichette with Teddy Charles with Tony Ortega with Frank Minion with Teddy Edwards–Howard McGhee Quintet with Ella Fitzgerald: with Horace Parlan With Billy Taylor with Svend Asmussen with Jack van Poll: with Oliver Jones: with John Lindberg, Albert Mangelsdorff & Eric Watson: with Eric Watson and Mark Dresser: with Ernie Wilkins on the Everest label: '''with Kresten Osgood With Webster Young
 * Velvet Soul (Prestige, 1962 [1964])
 * Angel Eyes (Prestige, 1962 [1965])
 * Sock! (Prestige, 1962, [1965])
 * The Jazz Harpist (Regent, 1957)
 * Earthy (Prestige, 1957)
 * Your Soft Eyes (Soul Note, 1981)
 * Manhattan (Soul Note, 1981)
 * At the Hickory House Volume 1 (1956)
 * At the Hickory House Volume 2 (1956)
 * Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims (1956)
 * A Grand Night for Swinging (Riverside, 1957)
 * Together Again!!!! (Contemporary, 1961)
 * Patterns in Jazz (1956; Blue Note)
 * Primitive Modern (Prestige, 1956)
 * Gil's Guests (1957; Prestige)
 * My Fair Lady Loves Jazz (1957; ABC Records)
 * The New Billy Taylor Trio (1957; ABC)
 * "The Chase Is On" (1957; Bethlehem)
 * When The Blues Comes On, Pt. 1&2 (1957; Bethlehem)
 * Cleanhead's Back in Town (1957; Bethlehem)
 * Winner's Circle (1957; Bethlehem)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays "My Fair Lady" (1958, Verve)
 * Sonny Stitt Sits In with the Oscar Peterson Trio (1958, Verve)
 * ''A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra (1959, Verve)
 * The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the George Gershwin Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Richard Rodgers Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Jerome Kern Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Cole Porter Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Harry Warren Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Irving Berlin Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Harold Arlen Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays the Jimmy McHugh Songbook (1959, Verve)
 * Oscar Peterson Plays Porgy & Bess (1959, Verve)
 * Swinging Brass with the Oscar Peterson Trio (1959, Verve)
 * Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson (1959, Verve)
 * Live From Chicago (1961, Verve)
 * Night Train (1962, Verve)
 * The Oscar Peterson Trio in Tokyo 1964 (1964; Pablo)
 * We Get Requests (1964, Verve)
 * Eloquence (1965, Limelight)
 * Oscar Peterson with Clark Terry (1982, Mercury Jazz Masters)
 * On the Sunny Side (Prestige, 1957)
 * Salute to Hamp (1958; Bethlehem)
 * Jazz for Young Moderns (1958, 1959; Bethlehem)
 * The Soft Land of Make Believe (1959; Bethlehem)
 * Howard McGhee/Teddy Edwards – Together Again! (Contemporary M 3588, S 7588; Fantasy OJC 424, OJCCD 424-2)
 * Ella in Budapest, Hungary (1970; Pablo)
 * Ella à Nice (1971; Pablo Live)
 * Jazz at Santa Monica Civic '72 (1972; Pablo)
 * Ella Loves Cole (1972; Atlantic), reissued as ''"Dream Dancing (1978; Pablo)
 * Arrival (1973, SteepleChase)
 * Taylor Made Jazz (Argo, 1959)
 * As Time Goes By (1978; Sonet Records)
 * Cat's Groove (1988; September Records)
 * A Class Act (1991; Justin Time Records)
 * Quartet Afterstorm (1994; Black Saint)
 * Silent Hearts (2001; Sunnyside Records)
 * Everest Years (CD; 1959, 1960; 2005; VI Music)
 * Sound (vinyl; 2011; Ilk Records)
 * For Lady (Prestige, 1957)