In 2008, drummer Chester Thompson was honoured with the Sabian Lifetime Achievement Award by American body the Percussive Arts Society to mark a career that began in Baltimore in the 60s when he was in his early teens. He honed his skills playing along to jazz records and went on to formally study flute, percussion and composition. He was about to embark upon a four year degree course but instead joined Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention in 1973, reckoning, “Well, this is what I’m trying to get ready for anyway.”
Thompson played on a number of albums, including Roxy & Elsewhere (1974), One Size Fits All (1975) and Bongo Fury (1975). He left Zappa to join Weather Report, with whom he recorded Black Market (1976).
Around this time, Weather Report fan Phil Collins met with their bass guitarist, Alphonso Johnson, saying that he was looking for an American drummer to play with Genesis and invited Thompson to be their live drummer in late 1976 after Wind And Wuthering was recorded. This working relationship lasted more than three decades and Thompson features on their live albums from Seconds Out (1977) to Live Over Europe (2007). He also drummed on all Phil Collins’ solo tours from 1982 and 2005 and plays on the 1990 live album Serious Hits… Live!. Thompson recorded with Steve Hackett and Tony Banks, and with Brand X’s John Goodsall in the Fire Merchants, too.
Now living in Nashville, Tennessee, in addition to touring and recording, Thompson has worked as a drum teacher and is a professor at Belmont University. His current projects include The Chester Thompson Trio, whose debut album Approved made No.6 in the JazzWeek album charts in 2013.
He has recorded with supergroup The Fusion Syndicate and joined the Australian prog band Unitopia in 2021.
“I’m very happy to see how much the whole
