Northwest Film Forum

Apart from being an incredible musician with a rare feel for music, the drummer Ed Thigpen, who passed away this year, was also a human being with a fascinating personal history. 

 

After growing up in Saint Louis and Los Angeles, he worked with the likes of Dinah Washington and Bud Powell at an early age. Later, he spent many years living in Copenhagen. He was a musician, but also a teacher and a family man of faith, who constantly sought out new means of expression.

 

In this personal, multifaceted portrait film, the Copenhagen-based American director Don McGlynn tells the story of Thigpen, whose work (on no less than 900 albums) has included collaborations with Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Herbie Hancock and Ella Fitzgerald, but who has also enriched the jazz world with his own two bands, "Ed Thigpen Trio" and "Ed Thigpen Scantet."

 

 Notes adapted from original programming at CPH:DOX

 

"I can imagine no better tribute to Mr. Thigpen than Don McGlynn’s extremely personal  documentary that plays more like a friendly  visit than a historic document, although it is both." —Seattle Post Globe