RIP- musicians

[Delfini (Diane)]

I remember him well as a Cropredy compère. I even tolerated the football results! I seem to remember the crowd singing to him via phone when he was unwell. Of course there was ‘Get on with it’.
An absolutely sublime double bass player - I last remember him playing with Ralph as the sun went down at Cropredy.
Sleep well Danny and thank you.

[David V B]

Simply the best. Saw him several times with RT and memorably Martin Simpson. Very good appreciation in today’s Guardian from Michael Hann. An extraordinary list of people he played with.

[davidmjs]

Does anybody else think Pentangle seem to get massively underplayed in most of the appreciations?

[PaulT]

I remember him well as a Cropredy compère. I even tolerated the football results! I seem to remember the crowd singing to him via phone when he was unwell. Of course there was ‘Get on with it’.
An absolutely sublime double bass player - I last remember him playing with Ralph as the sun went down at Cropredy.
Sleep well Danny and thank you.

You're absolutely right, Diane!  9 August 1997 - released (escaped?!) the following year on the 3CD set "The Cropredy Box" - track 1 on Disc 2.

[Alan2]

Does anybody else think Pentangle seem to get massively underplayed in most of the appreciations?

I haven't read many, but could it be that his tenure with Pentangle is so well known it is taken for  granted?  I'M  struggling for an explanation  here without really knowing.  Pentangle  was certainly my first  experience of DT,  but that's just me.   John Martyn's  peak era  arguably,  raised DT's profile.

FWIW,  some of his work with Pentangle- the instrumental parts of the debut and Sweet Child for instance- are astonishing  even today.

[davidmjs]

Does anybody else think Pentangle seem to get massively underplayed in most of the appreciations?

I haven't read many, but could it be that his tenure with Pentangle is so well known it is taken for  granted?  I'M  struggling for an explanation  here without really knowing.  Pentangle  was certainly my first  experience of DT,  but that's just me.   John Martyn's  peak era  arguably,  raised DT's profile.

FWIW,  some of his work with Pentangle- the instrumental parts of the debut and Sweet Child for instance- are astonishing  even today.

To me, Pentangle is the bedrock of all that he was, and why he was so in demand as a session man.  As one fifth of one of the best bands ever why wouldn't this be the case?  The fact that he played for Everything But The Girl or whoever else the clueless journalist has actually heard of seems very insignificant by comparison.  I'm probably massively overthinking this, and we should just be grateful for all the many column inches...

[Shane (Skirky)]

The fact that he played for Everything But The Girl or whoever else the clueless journalist has actually heard of seems very insignificant by comparison.

In fairness, the writer in question is probably pitching at civilians who are more likely to have heard of EBTG than (say) Pentangle.
There's a lovely tribute by Ryley Walker on the FB.

[davidmjs]

The fact that he played for Everything But The Girl or whoever else the clueless journalist has actually heard of seems very insignificant by comparison.

In fairness, the writer in question is probably pitching at civilians who are more likely to have heard of EBTG than (say) Pentangle.
There's a lovely tribute by Ryley Walker on the FB.

Yes, there is...

"sad to hear about my brother Danny Thompson. I'm just some fanatic lunatic who worships the ground he walks on. And for whatever reason, he agreed to get in a sprinter van with me and hit the road as a duo. Was made extra special with my other hero Meg Baird on the hootenanny. I don't understand why I'm in their company either, don't worry.
He couldn't have been more generous and sweet. He loved his family and talked endlessly about them. He really missed his old music buddies he came up with that had passed on. He got extremely emotional when he spoke of them. He was an amazing story teller. He saw every ******g gig back in the day. You name it. His war stories from old tours were as insane as you can imagine. Funny bastard. In my darkest hangovers, he would say "what's the matter yankee doodle? bible study went too late last night?"
Felt surreal to just sit backstage before the gig and talk about records, record stores, record labels, songwriters, session musicians, etc. I admired how he was a fanatic and collector as much as he was a musician. Could walk circles around me on blue note/impulse. I could walk circles around him on records he played on. ("What? I'm on that? Nooooooo")
All that said, to be honest, a good 20% of the time I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I thought that accent was only on Monty Python.
He played every s**t club in Europe and made a name for himself. Self made man. Didn't take any short cuts. Went all the way to the top. Work horse until the very end. Great musician. Few greater. In a class of his own. Go down easy Danny "******g" Thompson. Best boss I ever had."

[davidmjs]

And Richard Williams gets in at the (mildly) Pentanglebashing as well.  Shame on him...

https://thebluemoment.com/2025/09/25/danny-thompson-1939-2025/

[Jules Gray]

"sad to hear about my brother Danny Thompson. I'm just some fanatic lunatic who worships the ground he walks on. And for whatever reason, he agreed to get in a sprinter van with me and hit the road as a duo. Was made extra special with my other hero Meg Baird on the hootenanny. I don't understand why I'm in their company either, don't worry.
He couldn't have been more generous and sweet. He loved his family and talked endlessly about them. He really missed his old music buddies he came up with that had passed on. He got extremely emotional when he spoke of them. He was an amazing story teller. He saw every ******g gig back in the day. You name it. His war stories from old tours were as insane as you can imagine. Funny bastard. In my darkest hangovers, he would say "what's the matter yankee doodle? bible study went too late last night?"
Felt surreal to just sit backstage before the gig and talk about records, record stores, record labels, songwriters, session musicians, etc. I admired how he was a fanatic and collector as much as he was a musician. Could walk circles around me on blue note/impulse. I could walk circles around him on records he played on. ("What? I'm on that? Nooooooo")
All that said, to be honest, a good 20% of the time I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I thought that accent was only on Monty Python.
He played every s**t club in Europe and made a name for himself. Self made man. Didn't take any short cuts. Went all the way to the top. Work horse until the very end. Great musician. Few greater. In a class of his own. Go down easy Danny "******g" Thompson. Best boss I ever had."

Oh, that's beautiful.

Jules

[Yorkshire Chris]

So sad...RIP Danny. We'll never see the likes again.

[Rory.]

RIP Danny, a life very well lived.

[RobertD]

It has been amazing to literally see how many tributes have been pouring in from such an eclectic range of musicians, a lot of whom I hadn’t known Danny had performed with. Today I played Singing The Storm, with Danny, Savourna Stevenson  and June Tabor for the first tine in years. Frightening to think how many recordings he is on!

[davidmjs]

That EBTG tribute.  I'd forgotten (or never knew) that DM was involved.... 1993 Cropredy probably had a lot to answer for...

[David (terrrrrrrr)]

A stellar musician. Worked with many of the great and good (and probably one or two who weren't) over many years. Watched him in concert with Pentangle at Leeds Town Hall probably 50 years ago. A fine evening...

He always struck me as being just a down to earth bloke, someone who you could happily approach and chat with. RIP Danny

[ColinB]

A nice tribute from Tim O'Brien on Facebook -

RIP Danny Thompson

Danny Thompson seemed to know everyone in the world. He could have been the guy in the joke where he’s standing beside the Pope and somebody says, “Who’s that guy up there with Danny?” He passed away Wednesday at his home in Hertfordshire at the age of 86.

He played the bass with uncommon authority, and you’ve heard his giant, growling sound on countless folk, blues, jazz, and pop records. He knew every musician joke and he told them with a thick south London accent. After a difficult youth, essentially on his own since his early teens, he served in the Royal Navy, and then became the house bassist at Ronnie Scott’s nightclub in London where he backed acts like bluesman Big Bill Broonzy and jazzer Danny Richmond.

He partied hard in his time but later became a practicing Muslim, and came back from a debilitating stroke in the late 1990’s to play and record for many more years. I was fortunate to share the stage with Danny on various shows in the UK and Ireland and it was my honor to introduce him to drum master Kenny Malone in January of 2000. One memorable show was in memory of his longtime running buddy John Martyn. The stories were flowing and the music reached deep. Rest in peace friend. Your spirit and your music will never die.
 
-Tim

[Nick]

Thank you, Danny, for so much music.

https://youtu.be/4_IlYT3c5ik?si=vTeXOa-YEyGrP5g_

I filmed this 17 years ago. I remember the time a bit too well. A few minutes earlier Fi and I had embarrassed ourselves in front of Martin and Danny by emerging from Oxford Town Hall's breastfeeding room (yes, it has one!) with our 2-week-old howling infant, into what had been allocated as their dressing room, just as they were warming up.  

Was still a fine gig, one of so many and of such great variety over the years.

Rest in peace fine man

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Such very sad news, I always loved his Get On With It.

Thank you Danny 🥲💙🥲💙🥲💙🥲

[David V B]

Biography of Danny T on the Guardian website. One thing I certainly didn’t know - he played on the recording sessions for the Thunderbirds theme!

[davidmjs]

Reported on FB that Chris Dreja has died.

I’m very sad to say that Mr. Chris Dreja has sadly passed away. Chris was my hero and he inspired me to play bass. I decided to create this page years ago because I wanted to honor Chris and all that he has done for music. Chris and The Yardbirds were without question trailblazers in music. This page will continue to honor Chris and his legacy. My prayers go out to his family, friends, bandmates, and all his fans. Rest in Peace Mr. Dreja. Say hello to Keith, Top, and Jeff for us.
Chris Gurnett
Founder and creator of the Fans of Chris Dreja page.