Ross Tompkins

Tompkins first entered public awareness through his longstanding role in Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band, yet he remains a highly adaptable, rhythmically buoyant pianist whose comprehensive command of the keyboard keeps him constantly sought after throughout the Los Angeles jazz community. Following his training at the New England Conservatory he relocated to New York, where he cut sessions alongside Kai Winding and performed intermittently with Eric Dolphy in 1964, Wes Montgomery in 1966, the Bob Brookmeyer/Clark Terry quintet in 1966, and Benny Goodman in 1968. Additional associations during those years included steady work with Bobby Hackett between 1965 and 1970 as well as membership in the Al Cohn/Zoot Sims quintet from 1968 to 1972. In 1971 Tompkins shifted his base to Los Angeles, joining the Louie Bellson big bands and entering the Tonight Show orchestra, an affiliation he maintained until Johnny Carson departed the program in 1992. During the 1970s his most regular recording activity occurred as both leader and sideman for Concord Jazz, encompassing a collaboration with Joe Venuti on Live at Concord '77 and a date with Red Norvo titled Red and Ross.