b. Richard Enos Thompson, 28 November 1943, Marine, Minnesota, USA. Thompson began playing piano as a child and in his late teens became a member of a popular New Orleans-style band in Minneapolis. The band regularly accompanied such leading New Orleans jazzmen as George Lewis, Kid Thomas and Pops Foster. Thompson also formed his own small group which worked extensively on radio, achieving considerable popularity. During the 70s Thompson began to tour internationally. He also worked with the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra and his own band dedicated to the music of King Oliver. Thompson's dedication to a tradition that was vintage long before he was born, has ensured that an important strand of jazz piano history remains extant. A sparkling player in the idiom of New Orleans, Thompson regularly revives the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Oliver and other past masters. In recent years he has often worked with several unsung musicians with similarly dedicated concepts, including cornettist Charles DeVore and drummer Hal Smith.

Listen to Butch Thompson at Finetune.

• (1997)  Thompson Plays Scott Joplin

• Maple Leaf Rag
• Heliotrope Bouquet
• Ragtime Dance
• Bethena: a Concert Waltz
• Euphonic Sounds

• Scott Joplin
• Fats Waller and His Rhythm
• Art Tatum
• Jelly Roll Morton
• Morten Gunnar Larsen
• AL JOLSON
• Red Wing Blackbirds Ragtime Jazz Band
• Gunther Schuller
• David Laibman
• Ralph Press
• Roy Eaton
• The Four Blackbirds
• The Beau Hunks
• the ragwagon band
• Duke Ellington
• John Williams
• Glenn Miller
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Wynton Marsalis
• Al Hirt

• fiveherb
• eddielin11
• minerva49