Search Chicago Jazz
Jazz Calendar
There are no shows posted for today. Please check back soon.
Remembering Earma Thompson
Remembering Earma Thompson
Date Posted: October 10 2009
Written By: Steven Dolins
|
 Bookmark it!
|
Earma Jean Thompson died July 14, 2009 at South Shore Hospital. She was eighty-six years old. Earma Thompson was a jazz pianist whose career spanned approximately sixty years. She was married to Marshall Thompson, jazz drummer and part of a famous rhythm section at Chicago’s London House and Playboy Club. She is survived by her son Terrance “Terry” Thompson, an accomplished drummer.
Earma Thompson studied piano with Mabel Sanford Lewis, organist and pianist at Ebenezer Baptist Church, at eight or nine. She graduated from DuSable High School in Chicago in 1939, where she was classmates and friends with Dorothy Donegan, Johnny Hartman, Von Freeman, and many other musicians who created the vibrant Chicago jazz scene. After high school, Earma studied classical piano at Herzl Junior College, on Chicago’s West Side, and the Chicago College of Music, at Jackson and Wabash, upstairs from Lyon & Healey.
Despite being recognized by other musicians, Earma’s graciousness and humility kept her from achieving the wider recognition she deserved, though she did accompany Joe Williams at the Cotton Club, prior to Williams joining Count Basie’s orchestra, and Billie Holliday at Partners, at 58th and Prairie in a basement.
The Thompson family was the center of the Chicago jazz scene for many years. Earma’s husband, Marshall, accompanied all of the jazz greats touring through Chicago. As a result, they became friends with jazz musicians like Oscar Peterson. The Thompson’s South Side home was used for rehearsals and a meeting place for musicians.
Also, both Marshall and Earma befriended and accompanied the best Chicago jazz musicians. They were very close to Eddie Harris’s family. While still a student, Rufus Reid lived on the second flat of the Thompson’s apartment building. Earma’s piano playing was a lot like her personality––understated, elegant, humble, humorous, sometimes feisty (like when she would show her displeasure to a bass player by rolling her eyes), articulate, intelligent, and always swinging.
Earma credits Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore for helping her make the transition from swing to bebop: “When I got to the Cotton Club and met John Gilmore, and Clifford Jordan, and all that bunch, and Tom Archia. … They [Gilmore and Jordan] took me under their wings. Showing me this and helping me ‘cause they saw I wanted to learn … John Gilmore played tenor with Sun Ra and Clifford played tenor too.
I know Clifford died up in New York … When I think back, I think they appreciated me trying to do what they told me. I listened to what they told me and so that way they always had something to tell me. “Try this chord here,” or “Don’t play that chord there,” and I was doing all of that. I’m glad I met them. I got in their way and they got in my way.”
Later in her career, Earma became a fixture at Andy’s, performing with Sonny Seals and John Watson. In more recent years, Earma played with Juli Wood, or Teddy Thomas, or John Brumbach, or Ray Bailey at various venues like Katerina’s. After Marian McPartland heard Earma’s solo recording Just in Time on The Sirens Records, she said it was the best example of bebop piano she’s heard in many years and invited Earma on her National Public Radio program, Piano Jazz, in 2004. In the last few years Earma has also recorded Blues for Earma Jean with Juli Wood, Dennis Carroll, and Mike Schlick and Madam Queen with Ari Brown, John Brumbach, William “Bugs” Cochran, and Yosef Ben Israel for The Sirens Records (reviewed in the July 2008 issue of DownBeat).
Earma Thompson received the We Love You Madly award from Jazz Unites in 2005; she was honored as the Queen of South Side Piano by the Hyde Park Jazz Society in 2007; and she received the Captain Walter Dyett Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jazz Institute of Chicago in 2008.
Donations for the funeral can be made to a special account, Earma’s Flats and Sharps, c/o Terrance Thompson at the Bank of America. A memorial concert is currently being planned by the Hyde Park Jazz Society, Jazz Unites, and the Jazz Institute of Chicago for sometime in October 2009. We hope the City of Chicago and the worldwide jazz community will remember Earma Thompson and her music with great affection.
Steven B. Dolins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Bradley University and owner of The Sirens Records (www.thesirensrecords.com).
A Poem for Earma
By Juli Wood
Every gig was a swingin’ affair
Always right on time with some pretty chords
Ready to share stories, laugh, and eat!
Made me swing my butt off too
After she’s gone her music lives on and on.
Don't miss anymore Chicago Jazz Information.
Subscribe to Chicago Jazz magazine / Get A Free CD.
Subscribe to our Chicago Jazz weekly newsletter.
