February 2013 Catalog Of Exclusive Releases - Forced Exposure

CHESTER THOMPSONPowerhouseLabelSNOW DOG RECORDSFormatCDCatalog NumberSDGBJ 1206CDEAN4526180110712Y(5C61IA*LLKRLM(Store Price$10.99Release Date02/05/13TerritoryNORTH AMERICAN EXCLUSIVEGenreFILE UNDER - T - JAZZDESCRIPTION"Contacted by phone at his home just south of San Francisco, ChesterThompson is quick in his response to a question about a record he made inthree hours on a Sunday afternoon fifty years ago, Powerhouse. 'I was a youngman, and it was an opportunity to show people that I could play a Hammond B-3organ.' Little did Thompson know then that he was showing people who wouldplace him on an unexpected career path into the whirlwind of pop music. LouisPain, an outstanding B-3 player in the Pacific Northwest, knows the story behindThompson being hired by one of the hottest pop-funk bands in the country. 'I'dbeen listening to Chester for a few years,' he tells this writer. 'I was going to theFillmore district club, the Off Plaza, where his trio played mainly soul cover tune.[So] when I was living in a house with Tower Of Power's guitarist BruceConte, I played him Chester's album, telling him that this was who the bandshould hire to play keyboards as they were on the verge of getting someone else.'Pain also tried to interest TOP saxophonist Lennie Pickett in hiring Thompson.'Lennie was un-persuaded. He said, 'I know this cat can't play the bass pedals likeBilly Preston,' and I replied that actually he could. Lennie, going ballistic, said, 'I'mgoing to go down to this guy's gig just so I can tell you how full of crap you are!'Conte, Pickett and band drummer David Garibaldi, with Pain tagging along,did just that. They were thunderstruck. Tower Of Power bought Thompson a B-3and he stayed in the band for the next ten years, until 1983. Then he joinedSantana, working with that globally successful rock band until 2009. In additionto his obvious familiarity with 1960s soul jazz, the B-3 dynamo proves to havemodern jazz inclinations. Sax man Rudy Johnson, influenced by JohnColtrane and Eddie Harris, slathers his soulfulness over the tunes. Chesterdidn't know trombonist Al Hall, Jr. and drummer Ray Pounds before therecord date and sometimes the music sounds under-rehearsed, but in the endPowerhouse delivers the goods." --Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat; Personnel:Chester Thompson (organ), Rudolph Johnson (sax), Al Hall Jr. (trombone), RayPounds (drums).TRACKLISTING01. Mr. T02. Trip One03. Weird Harold04. Power HouseHIGHLIGHTS• Snow Dog Records reissues the 1971 album by jazz organist ChesterThompson.• Features contributions from Rudolph Johnson, Al Hall Jr., and RayPounds.Press Contact: eric@forcedexposure.comExclusively Distributed by219 Medford Street, Malden, MA 02148ph: (781) 321-0320 • fx: (781) 321-0321fe@forcedexposure.comNew Releases February 5th 201344