Malachi Thompson

An accomplished yet underrecognized trumpeter, Malachi Thompson has explored free improvisation and committed to disc inventive homages to Buddy Bolden, the musician sometimes credited with originating jazz. Chicago was the city of his upbringing. At age eleven, after experiencing Count Basie’s Orchestra live, he convinced his parents to purchase a trumpet for him. By 1969 he had joined the AACM and was performing across a wide spectrum that stretched from free jazz to R&B. Following his graduation from Governor’s State University, he relocated to New York in 1974. Freelance engagements soon followed with the Sam Wooding big band, Sam Rivers, Joe Henderson, Kalaparusha McIntyre, Jackie McLean, David Murray, and numerous additional artists. Between 1975 and 1980 he served as co-leader of Brass Proud, contributed significantly to Lester Bowie’s Hot Trumpet Repertory Company, and subsequently became a member of Brass Fantasy. Periods of residence took him to New York, Washington D.C., and Vienna, Austria. Lymphoma sidelined him for several years in the late 1980s, yet he recovered fully. Returning to Chicago in the 1990s, he directed both the Freebop Band and Africa Brass. An exploratory soloist deeply attuned to jazz tradition, Malachi Thompson has documented his work on sessions for RA in 1972 and 1981 and has recorded regularly for Delmark since the mid-1980s.