Jeter Thompson

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Jeter Jerald Bell Thompson (born March 16, 1930 in St. Louis ; † December 1, 2017 ) was an American jazz musician ( piano , keyboard , composition , arrangement ) who was mainly active in the music scene in St. Louis.

Live and act

Thompson began playing the piano when he was five; He gained his first professional experience in 1946 when he performed with the saxophonist Emmett Carter at the Coconut Grove jazz club . He attended Sumner High School, then Stowe College. He then did his military service in the US Air Force in Korea. Upon his return in 1954, Thompson played locally; In 1959 he founded the Trés Bien Quartet , which included bassist Richard Simmons, drummer Albert St. James and percussionist Percy James. A first album was created in 1962 for the Norman label by Norman Wienstroer. The group performed successfully in St. Louis in the entertainment district of Gaslight Square and was the house band at The Dark Side nightclub , in which a film sequence was made in 1962 and the band starred in the drama Route 66 . From 1963 Thompson appeared with his bandmates in the Trés Bien Club . After two more albums for Norman, Boss Trés Bien and Kilimanjaro (1964), Thompson's quartet recorded in New York for Decca Records ; as a result, eight albums were created by 1967, stylistically between modern jazz , easy listening and exotic. Furthermore, Thompson and the Quartet Trés Bien toured with the stand-up comedian Dick Gregory , with whom she a. a. also performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem; also supporting Thelonious Monk at the It Club in Los Angeles.

In the 1960s, Thompson performed at the Plugged Nickel in Chicago, Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, Crawford's Grill in Pittsburgh, and the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, California, and in St. Louis with Sarah Vaughan . In 1973, with the decline of Gaslight Square and the closing of many jazz clubs, the Tres Bien Quartet broke up ; Thompson worked full-time as a cartographer for the US Defense Mapping Agency and as a real estate agent in the following years; he also played in the Trio Tres Bien , which he formed with his brothers, bassist Harold Thompson and drummer Howard Thompson. They performed in local clubs and events; In 2004 they released the album Coming Together . In 2014, the Trio Trés Bien was inducted into the St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame by the Wolfe Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe State University . In the field of jazz he was involved in 22 recording sessions between 1962 and 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In Loving Memory of Jeter Jerald Bell Thompson . St. Louis American, December 8, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c Dean Minderman: Jeter Thompson 1930 - 2017. All About Jazz , December 14, 2017, accessed April 5, 2018 (English).
  3. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 6, 2018)
personal data
SURNAME Thompson, Jeter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thompson, Jeter Jerald Bell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (piano, composition)
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis
DATE OF DEATH 1st December 2017