Danny Thompson - Idle Monday
Hello again! I've been up to something to honor the incredible life -- and, two weeks ago, the passing, at 86 -- of one of the bedrock, towering musicians of our age, and I've chosen today, and the start of the weekend, to lay it on you.
It's a dumb cliché, but there isn't much I can even think to say that hasn't already been touched upon, in the myriad tributes that have poured in from everywhere since this most extraordinary cat passed away -- on John Coltrane's birthday -- in September.
What can be said, because it can't ever, IMO, be stressed enough, is the song.
I've heard a zillion heavyweights from Bill Bruford to Sonny Rollins to Lady Gaga say it, but it will forever bear repeating: the song, whatever it may be in whatever situation, is what separates the merely technically-proficient from the intuitively virtuosic, Master musician.
In Indian music they call it Ustad level, you know? Where the ego and impulse to over-decorate the environment are rapturously reined in, allowing things to reach such a standard of effortless excellence, the Music begins to play the players and the song is given maximum, total service to become the best it can be.
Most folks know him principally as a point on the powerful, five-pronged star of The Pentangle -- as unclassifiably exquisite a band as shall ever exist in our world -- who, in their 1967-72 heyday, entirely redefined what the seamless fusion of Blues, Jazz, Classical and the UK's traditional music could be in the hands of the toppermost players in town.
Had he only existed as 1/5 of that inexpressibly superlative aggregation, his place in the pantheon would be as cemented as the foundation of London Bridge itself, and with none of the usual torturous, Towering hyperbole.
As we know, that couldn't be further from the case, as even a half-assed examination of his 60+ year career reveals a player as highly in-demand as any. And a participant in so many projects of his own and of others, it's almost impossible to get a grip on everything he did in a recording studio under a set of headphones, his beloved double bass he named Victoria at his side like a devoted lifemate.
As, over the last two weeks since he departed, I waded into the deep waters of his credits -- he played on literally hundreds of sessions -- I was struck by the sheer breadth of the material, which ranged from the most introspective singer-songwriter fare to ancient Traditional songs to authentic West African sounds to completely free improvisation.
As far as I know, up to this point, there has never been any sort of career retrospective attempted on Danny Thompson, and given the variety of artists and labels concerned, it would likely take every lawyer on Earth -- plus maybe a few from neighboring galaxies -- to get it blessed and pressed.
There was this hourlong compilation, called Connected, that was issued on his own small label in 2012, but it barely scratched the surface of his considerable output.
That said, you should probably grab a copy, if only as a companion piece to the 5 1/2 hours of wonderment I've spent the last 10 days hammering into launch position to bring to you here.
Various Artists
Bass Value: sessions of Danny Thompson
1964-2009
CD1
01 Alexis Korner - Haitian Fight Song (1964)
02 Pentangle - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (1968)
03 John & Beverley Martyn - New Day (1970)
04 S. E. Rogie - Koneh Pelawoe (Please Open Your Heart) (1994)
05 Graham Coxon - Brave the Storm (2009)
06 Peter Gabriel - No Way Out (2002)
07 John Renbourn - Faro Annie (1971)
08 Barbara Dickson - Fine Horseman (1995)
09 Norma Waterson - Rags & Old Iron (1996)
10 Danny Thompson - Sandansko Oro (Bulgarian Dance) (1989)
11 June Tabor - Pork Pie Hat (1989)
12 Bert Jansch - Poison (1969)
13 Darrell Scott - The Invisible Man (2006)
14 Jeremy Taylor - Isle of Wight (1972)
15 Mara - Streets of Forbes (1984)
16 Kate Bush - Pull Out the Pin (1982)
17 Loudon Wainwright III - Hard Day On the Planet (1986)
18 Donovan - There Is an Ocean (1970)
CD2
19 Mary Hopkin - Martha (1971)
20 Duffy Power - Hound Dog (1967)
21 Sandy Denny - Whispering Grass (1974)
22 Nadia Cattouse - B.C. People (1970)
23 Pentangle - Reflection (1972)
24 Bread, Love & Dreams - The Strange Tale of Captain Shannon (1970)
25 Tasmin Archer - In Your Care (1992)
26 Everything But the Girl - Rollercoaster (1994)
27 B.J. Cole - The Regal Progression (1972)
28 Danny Thompson - Idle Monday (1987)
29 Julie Felix - The Lean Years (1972)
30 Therapy - Sir Ebeneezer (1971)
31 Shelleyan Orphan - Jeremiah (1987)
32 Billy Bragg - Must I Paint You a Picture (1988)
33 Dizrhythmia - Standing In the Rain (1988)
34 Davy Graham - Both Sides Now (1968)
CD3
35 Pentangle - Street Song (1985)
36 Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson - Ghosts In the Wind (1993)
37 Toumani Diabaté - Tony Vander (1995)
38 Richard Barbieri - All Fall Down (2008)
39 Shelagh McDonald - City's Cry (1971)
40 The Blind Boys of Alabama - Jesus Gonna Be Here (2001)
41 Linda Lewis - Red Light Ladies (1973)
42 Hunter Muskett - Snow (1970)
43 Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & Danny Thompson - Africa (1988)
44 Boo Hewerdine - World's End (1995)
45 Talk Talk - Happiness Is Easy (1986)
46 Tudor Lodge - Recollection (1971)
47 Rod Stewart - Reason to Believe (1971)
48 Sam Brown - Piece of My Luck (1988)
49 Lynsey de Paul - Ivory Tower (1973)
50 Dorris Henderson - When You Hear Them Cuckoos Hollerin' (1967)
51 Christine Collister - God Bless the Child (1998)
52 Vic Abram - Whichever Way the Wind Blows (1981)
53 Danny Thompson, Allan Holdsworth & John Stevens - Jools Toon (excerpt) (1978)
CD4
54 Nick Drake - Time Has Told Me (1969)
55 Harold McNair - Barnes Bridge (1970)
56 T. Rex - Interstellar Soul (1974)
57 C.O.B. - Sheba's Return-Lion of Judah (1972)
58 Harvey Andrews - Hey! Sandy (1972)
59 John Williams - Nuages (1971)
60 David Sylvian - The Ink In the Well (1984)0
61 Mike Lindup - Life Will Never Be the Same (1990)
62 Ayuo - Tao (1997)
63 Sally Barker - Or Did You Jump (1990)
64 Magna Carta - Romeo Jack (1969)
65 Incantation - El Amor Es un Camino (1987)
66 Dawud Wharnsby - Argus Array (2005)
67 Tom Paxton - You Should Have Seen Me Throw That Ball (1972)
68 Ralph McTell - Stuff No More (1974)
69 Danny Thompson & Peter Knight - Number Two (excerpt) (1995)
70 Vivian Stanshall - Peristaltic Waves (1978)
71 Steve Ashley - Farewell Green Leaves (1975)
72 John Martyn - Go Down Easy (1973)
Total time: 5:18:54
4CD compendium of music of the last 60+ years, all starring the great Danny Thompson on the double bass
selected, assembled & remastered for unity by EN, September/October 2025
special thanks to The Music Aficionado for assistance with clarifying these selections
1.83 GB FLAC/direct link
1.83 GB FLAC/direct link
An especially basso profundo chunk of gratitude goes out to The Music Aficionado, whose insanely excellent (and highly informative) six-part series, entitled The Artistry of Danny Thompson, really provided the tracks upon which this thing could run, so to speak. With a few revisions, additions and exceptions, this bad boy is really just a lossless recreation -- in case you wanna play the whole thing in the car! -- of what TMA did, via YouTube links, on that exceptional page back in 2021.
Beyond that, it's truly a full 4CD excursion into the realms of the All Killer, No Filler zone, with every selection -- some, not all that easy to find in non-mp3 form, trust me! -- offering ample illustration of what made Danny Thompson as supple, supportive and sublime a bassist and overall master muso as will likely ever populate this world. Where I felt it necessary, I used all available tools on these tunes to make sure he is heard to optimum and appropriate effect.
Danny Thompson's 87th birthday would have been next April, but I wasn't waiting a whole winter of discontent to put this thing together in his honor. Of course, it's also a labor of love for your enjoyment -- we all need some these days, don't we? -- and an education, if you needed it, into just what made this Maestro of the Low End Theory stand so exceptionally elevated above the merely mundane musical mortals on the map of our millennium.
--J.
4.4.1939 - 9.23.2025