Edmund Leonard Thigpen (b. December 28, 1930, Chicago, Illinois, United States – d. January 13, 2010, Copenhagen, Denmark) 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.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Thigpen was raised in Los Angeles, California, and attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon and Chico Hamilton also attended. 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 Wiliams 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, Thigpen replaced guitarist Herb Ellis in the Oscar Peterson Trio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1961, Thigpen 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 1972, Thigpen moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, joining several other American jazz musicians who had settled in that city over the previous two decades. 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 Orsted 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.
Thigpen died peacefully after a brief period in Hvidovre Hospital in Copenhagen on January 13, 2010. He had been hospitalized for heart and lung problems and was also suffering from Parkinson's disease. He is buried at Vestre Kirkegard.
Ed Thigpen was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2002.
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Ed Thigpen, Jazz Drummer, Dies at 79
Ed Thigpen, a drummer whose tasteful and understated style made him a favorite accompanist of some of the best-known performers in jazz, died on Jan. 13 in Copenhagen, where he had lived since 1972. He was 79.
His death was announced by his family. No cause was specified.
Mr. Thigpen was most famous for his tenure with the pianist Oscar Peterson’s trio, one of the most popular small groups in jazz, from 1959 to 1965. Mr. Thigpen earned raves for his supportive playing and especially for his deft use of brushes in Peterson's trio, which up until then had consisted of piano, bass and guitar.
After leaving Peterson, he spent five years with Ella Fitzgerald. He then moved to Copenhagen, where he became an in-demand sideman for visiting and expatriate American jazz musicians.
A second-generation percussionist (his father, Ben Thigpen, played drums with the celebrated Kansas City big band led by Andy Kirk), Edmund Leonard Thigpen was born in Chicago on Dec. 28, 1930, and grew up in Los Angeles, where he began his professional career in 1948.
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After serving in the Army he spent several years in New York, where he performed and recorded with Bud Powell, Lennie Tristano, Blossom Dearie and many others before joining Peterson’s trio.
Mr. Thigpen’s first marriage was annulled. His second wife, Ingelise Nielsen, died in 1981. He is survived by a son, Michel; a daughter, Denise; a brother, Bensid; a sister, Rosalind; and a granddaughter.
Mr. Thigpen returned occasionally to the United States, but not always as a performer. Many of his visits were to attend meetings of drummers and educators, where he discussed the teaching techniques he had developed and which he documented in several books.
He was proud of those techniques. “I found a slot that was missing in rhythm education,” he told The New York Times in 1985. “I found a way to activate the silences between notes.”
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