Search - Sir Charles Thompson :: I Got Rhythm - Live at the Jazz Showcase

Sir Charles keeps his string going; Schneider's a real bonus

Steve Emerine | Tucson, AZ United States | 03/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sir Charles Thompson has been going for 60+ years now, and it's obvious his piano will give out before he does. The composer of "Robbins' Nest" has starred with Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, Illinois Jacquet, Lester Young (who dubbed Thompson "Sir Charles" in 1941), Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Don Byas ... well, by now you get the idea. He played with the greats, and this Delmark CD shows he's still doing it very well. Tenor saxophonist Eric Schneider, who's so young now that he must have been in diapers when he broke in with Earl Hines' group in 1978, provides a bonus for buyers of "I Got Rhythm." He's one of the best reedmen around, and Delmark and other companies would be well advised to give him his own recording gig soon."