Dickie Thompson

about

Dickie Thompson (James Edward Thompson, December 13, 1917, Jersey City, NJ, U.S - February 22, 2007, Tucson, Arizona., U.S.) was a guitarist and songwriter. His song, "Thirteen Women And One Man" was covered by Bill Haley And The Comets - He recorded for Signature, Regal, Herald, Winley and Decca Records. Worked for Wild Bill Davis, Cozy Cole, Johnny Hodges, Jackie Wilson, Earl Hines, Coleman Hawkins, John Hardee, Dinah Washington, Charlie Shavers, Stuff Smith, Don Ho, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Claude Blac, and Doles Dickens. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1917, Thompson started playing music as a hobby at age 15. Two years later, he was doing "shake dances" (playing for exotic dancers) and other gigs in the Jersey area. Like many left-handed guitarists, he learned to play by flipping over a right-handed guitar and playing upside down. The teachers he met wanted him to put the strings back in the right order, but Thompson stuck to doing it his way. Early on, he started tuning the guitar up a half-step (which is why it sounded wrong to me on that first night). "I played with an older piano player who could only play in a few keys. The things I could do were in the wrong keys, so tuning up a half-step let me play [in key]," he says. The unusual tuning, combined with the upside-down stringing of his guitar, gives Thompson a unique sound, and confounds legions of young guitarists hoping to pick up some of his licks. Active in the New York jazz scene from the '40s through th

top songs

albums

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The Ultimate Rock N' Roll & Rhythm N' Blues Collection

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Rumba Blues 1953-1957, The Mambo Years

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Livin' That Wild Life: Herald/Ember Blues & Gospel Masters, Vol. 1

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Mambo 3:Jungle Dreams

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I Was a Mod Before You Were a Mod Vol. 9

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R'n'B Wig Poppers

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Mambo Classics

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Step It Up and Go! Tearing Up the Roots of Rock 'N Roll Disc 2

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Routes Of Rockabilly (Part 1)

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Lost Blues & Old Time Folk Songs

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Routes Of Rockabilly

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