Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Richard Enos “Butch” Thompson was born on November 28, 1943 in St. Croix, Minnesota, began playing piano at the early age of three, and began taking lessons at age six. At Stillwater Area High School, he played clarinet in the band and in 1962 he joined the Hall Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band in Minneapolis, Minnesota and remained with them for twenty years.

>From 1974 to 1986, he was a regular and the original pianist on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion. From its inception in the 1960s he led the Butch Thompson Trio.

The 1970s saw Thompson’s recordings gaining popularity in Europe and he toured the continent extensively during the decade and into the 1980s, both as a solo artist and as a band leader or member.

He wrote for jazz publications and produced a radio show, Jazz Originals, for KBEM-FM in Minneapolis. Pianist and clarinetist Butch Thompson, best known for his ragtime and stride performances, died on August 14, 2022.

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