Chester Thompson
Chester Thompson (Baltimore, Maryland, b. December 11, 1948) is an American jazz and rock drummer. He learned his instrument from age 11 on by studying with drummer/percussionist Tony Ames of the National Symphony Orchestra for one semester. By the time he was 13, he also performed gigs in and around Baltimore. In the early 1970s, Thompson played as a session drummer, among others in the group Air Pocket, in which The Fowler Brothers also performed.
Between 1973 and 1975, he was a drummer for Frank Zappa.
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Frank Zappa
In the fall of 1973, Chester Thompson took an audition at Frank Zappa's The Mothers, since he was a friend of tour manager Marty Perellis. He drummed on records like Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4, The Lost Episodes, Läther, Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa, Quaudiophiliac and The Dub Room Special. He can also be heard on the Beat The Boots series discs Unmitigated Audacity (BTB), & Piquantique (BTB). Thompson can be seen in the Zappa movies Dub Room Special, The True Story Of 200 Motels and The Roxy Performances.
Thompson is referenced in the song Inca Roads ("or leave a space for Chester's Thing to land") and in Florentine Pogen, during the line "Chester's gorilla". During a performance of Florentine Pogen in the Dub Room Special concert film, he was surprised by a man in gorilla suit entering the stage (Marty Perellis). [1] He is also mentioned during Montana (Whipping Floss).
In 1974, when The Mothers rehearsed a performance of Unto Mononen's Satumaa (Finnish Tango), he received some percussion advice from Finnish session drummer Matti Koskiala on how to perform the rhythm.
Post-Zappa career
In 1975, Thompson left Zappa. He performed with Weather Report (1975-1976) and Genesis (1976-1992). Phil Collins hired him after hearing his drumwork on Roxy & Elsewhere. [2]
In 1988, during Zappa's final tour, Thompson was asked to perform with The Mothers again, but he declined the offer, since Zappa's lyrics conflicted with his Christian convictions. [3]
Thompson performed on Napoleon Murphy Brock's album Balls (2002).
In 2011, Thompson also formed his own group, the Chester Thompson Trio, with Joe Davidian (piano) and Mike Rinne (bass). He also gives drum lessons.
Chester Thompson is included in the list of names on The MOFO Project/Object (2006) album.[4] He was interviewed in the documentary The Drummers Of Frank Zappa (2010).
Frank Zappa about Chester Thompson
"Definitely solid, inspiring drummer, a totally different style than the other guys. It was always fun to play with Chester, especially after he learned how to play, polyrhythms, because he came into the band basically from the world of boogaloo. He could boogaloo his brains out. But trying to play guitar solos with Chester ... you had the positive side that his rhythm was so contageous that people could really tap their feet no matter what you were doing on the guitar; but the negative side was that if you were doing some of the polyrhythmic things that are comfortable for you to do, and the drum track doesn't move with what you're doing, then it doesn't quite mesh. So I had a couple of talks with Chester, and tried to explain to him in a non technical way how things should be at certain points in musical compositions, and he scratched his head over it and started modifying, and I think it opened him up a little bit to some other ideas. He was great to travel with, too. A hilarious guy." - Frank Zappa in Zappa 89-7, Interview by Deborah Parisi, Rhythm, July 1989.
