Don Thompson (musician)

Donald Thompson
Photo courtesy of the Fraser MacPherson estate
Background information
Birth name	Donald Winston Thompson
Born	(1940-01-18) 18 January 1940 (age 77) Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician

Donald Winston Thompson, OC (born 18 January 1940) is a Canadian jazz musician who plays double bass, piano, and vibes. Thompson formed part of the Toronto Quartet of Paul Desmond during the mid seventies, and that effort produced two albums. Other personnel on those dates, mostly at Bourbon Street in Toronto, were Toronto guitarist Ed Bickert and drummer Jerry Fuller. Thompson has been a fixture on the Toronto jazz scene since the late 1960s when he moved there from British Columbia. Thompson played for a long time in Rob McConnell's Boss Brass.

Thompson was born 18 January 1940 Powell River, British Columbia, Canada.

He lived in Vancouver from 1960 to 1965, working as a freelance musician primarily on bass. He has appeared with jazz troupes led by Vancouver musicians such as Dave Robbins, Chris Gage and Fraser MacPherson, as well as leading his own musical groups. In addition to appearing regularly on CBC radio, he was also on television as a featured artist.

In 1965 he joined the 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, Recorded Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival, became one of the most popular jazz albums of the 1960s. While in San Francisco Thompson also worked with Frank Rosolino, Maynard Ferguson, Denny Zeitlin and George Duke.