Welcome to the Official Thomas Chapin Website
A versatile multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and composer, in the 80s and 90s, Chapin led a trio performing his own music playing in New York City’s downtown scene, and at festivals and clubs around the world. An outstanding composer of larger works as well, he sometimes augmented the trio with strings and horn ensembles.
Though leukemia tragically ended his life in 1998 at age 40, Thomas Chapin left behind a legacy of many excellent albums and performances, and a reputation as one of jazz’s more extraordinary musicians and one of the few musicians to exist in both the worlds of the downtown, experimentalist scene and mainstream jazz. He continues to be a highly influential and inspirational force to those who knew him and to those who continue to know him through his music and example. ~~Scroll down here for more Home page news…
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Highlight for 2010
JAZZ MAN: THOMAS CHAPIN IN HAWAII is a 7-minute, color film directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Stephanie Castillo for Hawaii Public Television in 1993. The Thomas Chapin Trio was returning from The Newport Jazz Festival at Madarao (Japan) and stopped in Hawaii to play at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. In the film Thomas talks about jazz, the Trio with Mario Pavone and Mike Sarin perform on stage and later, Thomas and friends make “unusual Chapin music.” The soulful, gregarious and childlike spirit of Thomas Chapin is captured in a rare moment when the Trio was reaching its pinnacle of success and notoriety. view here…
The Thomas Chapin Story
The complete story of Thomas Chapin’s musical evolution – his schooling, his influences, as musical director with Lionel Hampton, his trio years & legacy. (by Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe) more…
Exclusive Web Interviews
“[Thomas was] a lightning-fast alto player… He was demonic – the level of intensity was there in his solos, even though he was using a bop vocabulary. He always took you on a journey from the accessible, normal jazz vocabulary out into something you never heard before.” – John Phillips, Music Executive-Impresario
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Ride - CD Release
The Thomas Chapin Trio CD, Ride (Playscape, 6/06) is the first live European concert ever released. Includes two new tunes “Pet Scorpion” and “Ticket to Ride.” more…