Bless Whatever

For over 60 years double-bassist Danny Thompson, who died in September, remained a highly respected and in-demand musician.

- 

His career with Alexis Korner and Pentangle and long musical partnerships with John Martyn and Richard Thompson were complemented by hundreds of sessions for scores of artists including Nick Drake, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Rod Stewart. In this previously unpublished interview from 2010, Phil Ward-Large spoke to Thompson in a small London studio, just a stone's throw from where he made his professional debut as a teenager, and found him full of energy and a boundless capacity for work...

I grew up at the time of Frankie Laine and Guy Mitchell,” Thompson began. “When I think back, it was a bit of a grey time, so I got into skiffle. I was interested in blues from an early age, about 11 or 12. I think Chris Barber never gets enough credit – he fought tooth and nail to bring American blues players to this country. So, I went down that blues line; not exactly folk, playing my tea chest bass, and I started listening to New Orleans traditional jazz and street bands like Papa Celestin and George Lewis and eventually to people like Earl Bostic.

“Then,” he continued, “about the age of 16, I got my first double bass. The night I got it, I tied it on top of a car because someone heard I’d got a double bass and obviously I couldn’t play it, but they offered me 15 shillings to play in this trad band and the fact that I could hold one was enough.