A Joyful Noise
An Interview with Chester Thompson
 

World of Genesis: As a Born Again Christian, does your involvement on contemporary Christian and Gospel albums reinforce your faith?

Chester Thompson: I guess it depends on the project. A normal recording session I can’t say would make that much difference. I’ve done several live recordings that would do that more. There have been some live gospel concerts/recording sessions that have been pretty amazing, but the actual recording session is a little more of a sterile environment. In the studio, you may or may not hear any lyrical content, but there is something that happens live that is a whole other dynamic all together.

WOG: Do you prefer playing live or working as a session player in the studio?

CT: Well, its interesting. Most of my experience has been live. I’ve done an awful lot of studio work, but there is a magic to playing live, there really is. I like the feedback and the energy from the crowd. I like the freedom. In some cases, the studio stuff can be magical, but there is a spontaneity that happens when you play live that doesn’t happen as often with studio work. Especially today, now that everything is so profit-driven. I would love to play with somebody like Peter (Gabriel) where there is such artistry, that they don’t really care if it makes the top ten. I would love to be in a situation like that where it’s a little more peer. A lot of the sessions, man, you’re in there and its… I mean to play period, so as long as I’m playing I’m pretty happy, but its such a controlled environment sometimes.
 

Chester On Leaving Weather Report :

...It was a case of assumptions… and you know what they say about the word “assume!” In this case, I think it might have proven true (laughs).

WOG: I know you toured Korea last fall as part of a festival with Ron Kenoly and a choir with something like 300 members. Was that performance recorded?

CT: Yes, it was recorded. I think it will be released as a CD and, possibly, as a video as well. I know some of it will be released internationally, but I don’t know if there is any of it that will just be released in Korea. At this point, I couldn’t tell you the timetable for when that would be released. It was an amazing event!

WOG: I understand that you recently completed work on the new album by jazz guitarist Denny Jiosa. Do you plan to tour in support of the album?

CT: We gig occasionally. I’ll go out with him, and we’ll do the sort of odd jazz festival here or there, or he’ll get booked for a night or two in various cities. We don’t go out that often, but I’ve been playing with him off and on for about four or five years now.

WOG: Four or five years with the same band line-up?

CT: Pretty much, yeah. A couple of things changed. The percussionist and myself, Glen Caruba. Glen is always there. Chris Kent plays bass when he is available, but he’s been working with Larry Carlton and Kirk Whalum, so he tends to get fairly busy doing those things. There are a couple of keyboard players that he kind of tends to go between. He’s just a good friend. I’ve known him since I’ve been here in Nashville, which is quite a long time. First, as an engineer, actually. He happens to be a really good engineer and a really good guitarist. When we play his stuff live, its a lot more intense than what you hear on the albums. He tries to get the smooth jazz airplay, which he does very well at, but when we go out and play live it’s a lot more firey.

WOG: Are there any other session projects you’ve done recently? 

CT: There have been a couple of things, but not so much in the last couple of months. In Nashville, come December, things get real quiet. Around the middle of January, things start picking up again. I’ve been doing quite a variety of stuff lately. I’ve done a lot of jazz, pop and Christian stuff.

I’ve also been teaching at a university here (Belmont University School of Music). This is my fourth year, which actually surprises me (laughs)! I got involved in it mainly because my son was a student there. The guy who was teaching drums at the university ended up leaving to pursue a doctorate. My son, his major instrument, in college anyway, was the drums. I had done a couple of clinics at the school, and I was asked if I would be interested in doing some of the drum set instruction along with a couple other instructors there.  Because I was very concerned about what my son was being taught, I thought, “Well, what better way to get involved with it than to become his teacher,” which was pretty funny.

WOG: Aside from doing occasional drum clinics, was that your first taste of teaching?

CT: Yeah, I’ve done clinics. On a rare occasion, I’d run into a kid with a lot of promise and give a couple of lessons to them just to help point them in a direction, but this is the first time I’ve ever done on going week-to-week teaching. It was something I had really run from, actually.

WOG: How did you first hook up with Weather Report? When you signed on to do the Black Market album, did you go in knowing it was a one time deal?

CT: Alphonso Johnson was a very good friend. He is from Philadelphia, and I’m from Baltimore, and we had started to cross paths. We had mutual acquaintances, so we started doing some playing together in situations would run into each other. I was playing with (Frank) Zappa at the time and Alphonso had been with Weather Report for a couple of years at that point. In fact, I remember the night he called me up to tell me that he had gotten the gig with Weather Report. He was pretty excited about it.

He kept saying, “Man, you’ve got to come down and jam with us…” because they were kind of between drummers at the time.  So, they were looking for a drummer, but at the same time they were, I guess, auditioning via jamming. He kept trying to get me to come down and play something with them. I probably wouldn’t have gone, but Zappa had cancelled a tour, and I hadn’t been in L.A. that long, and I didn’t have an awful lot of contacts or anything. So, canceling a tour meant that I needed to get busy, basically. So, I went down and auditioned with them, and it was just a good fit. In a band, you either fit with them or you don’t, ya know? Fortunately, it ‘clicked.’  I had toured with them a year before Black Market was done, so the band was actually pretty tight at that point.  

WOG: When the Black Market album had been completed, what made you decide to move on?

CT: Well, it was a strange thing that happened. Alphonso, during that that period, quit the band. I was visiting Baltimore, for Christmas. … This all happened over Christmas break. We had been recording. When I came back from the Christmas break, I didn’t know that Alphonso had quit. It was a case of assumptions… and you know what they say about the word “assume!” In this case, I think it might have proven true (laughs). I got back, and I called Wayne (Shorter) to let him know I was back in town and find out what the recording schedule was. I got a very strange phone call back from him saying, “You don’t need to show up.” And I was like, “What?!” It just sounded very odd. So, I couldn’t reach Wayne, so I called Joe (Zawinul), and I guess in the meantime, since Alphonso had left they had hired Jaco (Pastorius).

Alphonso and I were really close friends, so I guess Wayne and Joe had a similar situation before they started Weather Report, where they had been playing in a couple of different jazz groups and just decided to join forces and start Weather Report. They assumed that Alphonso and I were doing the same thing. When in actual fact, I didn’t even know Alphonso had left and he actually had a recording contract of his own, which had nothing to do with me (laughs). So, at that point, we spoke and they said, “Aren’t you leaving to play with Alphonso?” And I said, “I didn’t even know he was leaving… I didn’t know anything about this!”
 

CT: I dunno. I mean, as much as I loved the Weather Report experience, had I still been regularly touring with Frank, I don’t know if I would have just left, because I like being loyal. I don’t like when people just call up one day and just say, “I’m outta there (laughs)!” I just don’t do that.

WOG: Correct me if I am wrong, but the Cloud 8 album you did also involved your son, right?

CT: No, no not at all… Well, I did use him on guitar on a couple of things. I actually hired him as a session guitarist on a couple of tracks. He is well on his way to his own career right now… You’ve really done some research, my goodness (laughs)!

I was very aware at that period that jobs for me were very often based upon what I was learning. Not so much what I was getting paid, but what I was learning. (Frank) Zappa being sort of the ultimate school is some senses. 

WOG: I know you got back together with Phil Collins for the 1999 promotional tour for Tarzan and that you did Phil’s Little Dreams Foundation benefit concert in January 2002. Are you ‘officially unofficially’ back in Phil’s regular touring band?

CT: (Laughs) For however much of a band there is these days, I’m pretty much the official drummer again, I guess. I tell ya, this thing in January was awesome! Oh my goodness, I had a ball! I got the impression that Phil really enjoyed it as well.

WOG: I saw that Lee Sklar was back in the band again as well…

CT: Well, yeah. I don’t know if he is actually in the group or not, because Nathan (East) gets awfully busy. I know Nathan seems to make the adjustments when Phil is going to tour, as he has done, but I think it would have been harder for him to do for just a one week thing like that. I have no idea if that is a permanent change.

WOG: It was announced that Phil plans to release his next album around the fall of this year. Has there been any discussion of a tour?

CT: No. The way things were left at the end of that gig was that Phil seemed really happy. In fact, it was good to see him so happy about it, because it was really special on one level, because we changed everything. I guess you know about the ear thing he is going through (sudden deafness), so adjustments were made, I think, because of that.

We found out very early on in rehearsal that if we played really loud, it was not good for him. It just made it really difficult for him to hear pitch and things. So, he wanted to just scale everything down. Like for example, on “Against All Odds” the huge drum fill… we scaled that way back. He wanted to just step it down in intensity. He didn’t use any of the drum machines or loops or any of that, so we all played live on everything, which was great! Because of this, some of the arrangements were slightly changed. I guess he had already been experimenting with some of that with some of the TV things he had done while I was gone. So, things were kind of changed even again, to where it was much more acoustic, and it was a really good time. They were really fresh arrangements. Phil’s a great player, and I’ve learned a lot from playing his parts, because he’s got such a great sense of what to play on a pop record. I think he understands that better than anyone I know, actually. At the same time, there is something about being able to create the part.

WOG: I know you said that it had nothing to do with your departure, but as Genesis and Phil’s work became more influenced by the drum machine in the late 80s and early 90s, was it becoming increasingly less interesting to play? As a drummer, I would imagine that you would feel much more limited in a live setting.

CT: One thing I learned long ago, is to make sure that you never get bored on a gig. What I did on the last two Genesis tours (Invisible Touch Tour and the We Can’t Dance Tour) and the last two Phil solo tours (No Jacket Required Tour and the But Seriously Tour) was that I always had a practice set backstage. I would have an electronic kit. They would always find a room for me to set it up and practice in, and I would have on headphones so as not to disturb everybody. Everybody has their own routine before the show. Probably a half hour or forty-five minutes before every show, I would play any and everything I wanted. I would have an absolutely ball back there with my practice kit. By the time we got on stage, I was pumped, and charged, and ready to go! I never, ever set foot stage for any of those shows where I felt like, “Oh Goodness, I’m sick of this!” You just can’t. I just didn’t want to go there. I found that by having my own routine, where I could just blow off steam and go for it that I was very much ready to play the show each night. It honestly, never got to be an issue. Even though the singles were that way, very little of the show was that way.

WOG: When people ask to hear a sample of your work, is there a particular song or album that you tend to use as an example?

CT: If I had to pick three albums, the first would be Black Market, the second would be One Size Fits All with Zappa, and the third would be one of the Ron Kenoly albums, Lift Him Up, that I’m really partial to. Not only because I think Lift Him Up a fair representation of my own playing, but because there’s something about the music of it. I just love that album! I think those would be three fairly representative albums of where I am coming from, musically.

WOG: Did you have any thoughts you could share on your original audition with Genesis?

CT: There wasn’t an audition, actually. That’s a whole other story in itself! I was staying in San Francisco one summer playing for a Broadway show called The Wiz. Phil had tracked me down through Alphonso Johnson, because they had met. The way it went was, Phil called. I knew who he was, because on the last Weather Report tour, Alphonso was always playing Trick of The Tail. In Europe, we did the whole tour on trains, and it was just like the movies with the little first class compartments with the three seats on each side. Alphonso had his cassette player with a speaker, this really nice Sony machine he had, and every day he was playing Trick of The Tail. So, I got to know that album pretty well (laughs)… Long before meeting Phil or anything.

Right: A scan of an original 1976 display ad for 
Weather Report's Black Market album

Chester On Genesis:


...it was becoming increasingly apparent that
Phil (Collins) did not need to be in the band. 

 

Well, in the meantime, having hired Jaco, assuming that I was leaving, they asked Jaco, “What drummer are you comfortable with?” And he recommended Narrada Michael Walden. So, by the time I talked to Joe, I was like, “What’s the deal? Am I out of the band or what? I haven’t quit, but if I’m out of the band, ok.” That put a different light on it, so suddenly it was like, “No, you’re not out of the band.” So, I said, “If that’s the case, it’s been Christmas, and I’ve been home buying gifts for my family; I need to work (laughs)!” So, I ended up going down to play percussion with Alex (Acuña) on a couple of tracks while Narrada was playing drums. They had used different drummers on albums before, and they said I was in the band, so I didn’t feel threatened. If he’s playing a couple of cuts, good! I didn’t have a problem with that. Of course, when I got there, Narrada saw me and said, “What are you doing here? (Laughs)” He said, “I was told I got the gig.” I said, “Oh you were, were you?!”

In the end, I guess they really didn’t like his playing as much as they thought, so I finished out the album. He played on a track and a half. I guess he played on one called “Cannon Ball” and on the album, he’s credited as playing on the song “Black Market” but, in fact, there were two different recording sessions. The first half is myself. Next time you happen to listen to it, in the middle of the song it switches from a straight 8 feel to a swing feel, the sound also changes… That’s actually a different day of recording that they spliced in (laughs). The first half is with me and the second half is with Narrada, but they gave him the credit for it.

Unfortunately, at that point, the vibes were just all gone. It’s very much a vibe band, and we were trying to make light of it, but in actual fact, the damage was done. It was never the same… And playing with Jaco was EXTREMELY different from playing with Alphonso.  So, at that point, we just kind of mutually agreed to just back-out, and Alex switched over to the drum chair. 

WOG: Was it different working with Jaco from a ‘clicking’ standpoint? Were these differences musical or personal?

CT:  It was all of the above, really. Jaco was very much wanting to be in the band. So, he was pretty much being the ‘Yes Man’ to whatever they said (laughs). The rehearsals were a bit strange, because the songs that I had just recorded with Alphonso (Johnson) playing bass were 180 degrees different with Jaco (playing bass). Alphonso had this wonderful sense of space when he played, and Jaco was just all notes. It just didn’t work. I suppose, I certainly could have made the adjustment, musically, but to be honest, I really didn’t care to.

I was very aware at that period that jobs for me were very often based upon what I was learning. Not so much what I was getting paid, but what I was learning. (Frank) Zappa being sort of the ultimate school is some senses. 

WOG: After working on so many different projects and doing so much session work for numerous musicians, what made you decide to go off and do your own solo album?

CT: Well, that is something I am working on again, in actual fact (laughs)! That’s always been my goal to be honest. I certainly love playing with other musicians, and I’ve had a very fortunate career, but I’ve never given up my own dreams of wanting to do music myself. Life kind of throws curves sometimes, and I try to kind of pay attention to what’s going on around me… As opposed to just insisting that no matter what comes my way, I’m going to do this. I mean, it works with some people, I suppose, but its like getting involved with this school thing.  That really caught me by surprise. Once my son graduated from the university, I figured that would be the end of that. I was very shocked to realize how much I would really miss it, so I agreed to do it for another year, which is the year I am in right now. I don’t, at the moment, plan to do it again, but it’s hard to say, because I was really amazed at how I felt at the end of finishing last year.  It just wasn’t done yet, ya know?  I’ve got some excellent players that I’m teaching, and they are great kids, and I’m very surprised how rewarding it is. I never ever dreamed I would enjoy it so much.

WOG: When Steve Hackett first approached you about the Genesis Revisited project, did you have any reservations about re-recording Genesis material since you have had such a long history with the group?

CT: No, I wasn’t sure about doing the whole album. When he first talked about it, he talked about maybe doing the whole album that way. This was quite some time before it actually happened.

As we talked back and forth, I told him that I was definitely up for doing some of it, but we both thought it would be too weird to do the whole album with both of us being sort of ex-Genesis people. So, as it got more clear in his mind, I think the idea of using different people who had ties or that had some association with the group just became a more attractive idea.


 

Chester On The Forthcoming Genesis Archive Releases:

I don’t know if I have any strong feelings one way or another. It would be fun, I think. I certainly don’t have any feelings like, “I wish they wouldn't.” It would actually be kind of fun to hear some of that stuff again.  

WOG: Lastly, Genesis are now looking at releasing archive recordings of old tours, tour rehearsals, and studio outtakes on CD and, in some cases, possibly DVD. Since a good amount of that live and rehearsal material will feature you on drums, what are your thoughts on releasing those recordings?

CT: I don’t know if I have any strong feelings one way or another. It would be fun, I think. I certainly don’t have any feelings like, “I wish they wouldn't.” It would actually be kind of fun to hear some of that stuff again.  

Special thanks to Chester Thompson for this interview. For more on Chester Thompson, check out his official website.  This interview © 2002-2007 Dave Negrin and may not be reprinted in whole or in part without permission.
 

SELECTED CHESTER THOMPSON DISCOGRAPHY

Chester on Calling All Stations:

...it's their band; and Mike (Rutherford) made it very clear that it was their band, and that they were not at all interested in sharing anything. So, that was that.

To purchase other CDs and DVDs by Chester Thompson click here.
Or, simply choose from a few of the titles selected below.

A Joyful Noise
Chester's Solo Debut! Includes: Jussa Thing, So Soka, Raw, Tropical Sunday, Cool Grove, Chunky, Drums Are Loud, Homeland & more.


Weather Report - Black Market (1976)
Legendary Jazz album featuring: the title cut, "Elegant People", "Three Clowns", "Gibraltar", "Cannon Ball" and more.


Frank Zappa & The Mothers - One Size Fits All (1975)
Classic Zappa! Includes: "Inca Roads", "San Ber' dino", "Po Jamma People" and much more.


Frank Zappa - Roxy And Elsewhere (1974)
Another Zappa classic! The album that convinced Phil Collins to recruit Chester for Genesis! A Must own!


Genesis - Seconds Out (1977)
2 CD set of Genesis live in concert from the '76/'77 tours. Includes: "Squonk", "Carpet Crawlers" & more.

Genesis in 1977 with Chester Thompson (center)
shortly after joining the touring line-up
 

Genesis - 3 Sides Live (1982)
2 CD set of Genesis live! Features Chester Thompson. Includes: "Behind The Lines", "Abacab", "Me & Sarah Jane" and more.


Genesis - The Way We Walk: The Shorts (1992)
Genesis in concert! Features: "Land of Confusion", "Mama", "I Can't Dance"
and more.

CT: It would depend on what I was doing. I’ve certainly got no ill feelings. To be real honest, Daryl (Stuermer) wasn’t able to make it, but we kind of had an impromptu jam at Phil’s wedding, and I couldn’t believe how much I missed those guys. We just played some of the old tunes, and I would like to think we were all a bit surprised that the ‘click’ or ‘lock’ was there. It was genuinely good to see them. I was definitely disappointed about Mike’s reaction about the group and all that, but seeing them was like it just sort of washed all of that away, and we realized that we really are friends. You don’t work with somebody for 16 years and not have some real relationships.

WOG: How did you first get into drumming, and who were your influences when you started playing?

CT: There was a point, I don’t remember when it happened, but I just had to play the drums. Fortunately, there was a friend of the family by the name of James Harris, who was a really good jazz drummer, and a jazz drummer by choice. That’s what he wanted to play; that’s what he chose to play. He offered to help me learn if I wanted. So, those first lessons at about 11 or 12 years old, I guess, I would go to his house, and he would sit me down and teach me how to play along with different jazz albums.

At that age, I was playing along with Art Blakey and Max Roach, and after I got more experience, I started playing along with Elvin Jones albums and really trying to play like that. I started doing club gigs by the time I was 13. By the time I was 15, I had played an awful lot of different kinds of music and started to be in some really good jazz groups at that age. So, the first influences were definitely the jazz drummers. It was definitely Max Roach, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones… Those were certainly the top influences. I think my favorite drummer over all, who pasted away, is Tony Williams.

When I was growing up and I started doing gigs, it was the mid-60s. So, I was hearing all of the new James Brown that was happening, which was certainly a major influence. That kind of revolutionized everything. The cover songs when I was growing up were Motown, James Brown… soul music, in those days. I missed The Beatles the first time around. I would hear what was on the radio, but I was really intensely trying to learn jazz at that age. So, the things I would actually spend more time listening to were mostly jazz albums in the mid-60s.

 

Genesis - The Way We Walk: The Longs (1993)
Genesis in concert! Features: Drum Duet with Chester and Phil Collins,
old medley, etc.


Denny Jiosa - Among Friends (1999)
Smooth Jazz album featuring Chester on drums. Includes: "Gottatude",
"Gentle Spirit" and much more!


Steve Hackett - Tokyo Tapes DVD (2000)
Now available on DVD! Features Chester Thompson and includes rare,
previously unreleased rehearsal footage!