Ed Thigpen Trio

Thigpen was born in Chicago and spent his infancy in St Louis, where his father lived, but moved with his mother to Los Angeles in 1935 after his parents had split up. After the death of his mother when he was 12, the boy was placed with a family who had little interest in his musical aspirations and, indeed, actively disliked the drums. Despite this, he persevered and took lessons. In what was a highly segregated city, Thigpen mixed with many other African-American youngsters who aspired to be jazz musicians. At junior school, he participated in a three-way drum battle in which he came third, before moving on to the city's Jefferson high school. This establishment gained renown as a training ground for musicians because of the inspirational tuition provided by its music teacher, Samuel Browne.

Thigpen benefited from Browne's encouragement, as did the trumpeter Art Farmer, the saxophonist Dexter Gordon and the drummer Chico Hamilton, all of whom passed through the school swing band during the teacher's time. After a year in college studying sociology, Thigpen opted for the musical life – he had already played local gigs – and spent a year in St Louis with his father, whom he named, along with Count Basie's drummer Jo Jones, as his principal influence.

By 1951 Thigpen was in New York, where he worked for six months with the ex-Duke Ellington trumpeter Cootie Williams's combo at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom before his military call-up. Posted first to Fort Ord, in California, where he was a drum instructor, he served in Korea with the Eighth Army band. During a visit to Tokyo, Thigpen encountered Peterson for the first time when the Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) troupe was playing there. He knew then that he wanted to perform with Peterson and told Brown: "I need to play with this group." Four years later, Thigpen replaced the guitarist Herb Ellis in Peterson's trio, which had thus far managed without a percussionist.