Thomas Chapin

Biography

Alto saxophonist and flautist, Thomas Chapin was born on March 9, 1957 in Manchester, Connecticut. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts where he studied classical music and jazz. He began his serious studies in the late 1970s, attending the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, studying with saxophonist Jackie MacLean.

In 1980 he graduated from Rutgers University where he studied with saxophonist Paul Jeffrey, pianist Kenny Barron and guitarist Ted Dunbar. From 1981 to 1986 he toured with the jazz grand master Lionel Hampton as lead saxophonist and musical director of the band. He also performed with Chico Hamilton's band from 1988 to 1989.

In the late 1980s he formed his own groups, of quartets, quintets, and a group and album devoted to Brazilian music, Spirits Rebellious (Alacra), as well as founding Machine Gun, a free-funk-free-jazz-rock band with guitarist/producer/engineer Robert Musso. But most notably, forming what became his signature group, a trio with bassist Mario Pavone and drummers Steve Johns and later, Michael Sarin. For nearly ten years Chapin pursued his own music, working with the Thomas Chapin Trio at festivals and clubs around the world, including a milestone career performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1995. He also arranged larger groups (Trio with Brass, "Insomnia" and Trio with Strings, "Haywire"). And he spent a good deal of his time working with the more important names in various factions of jazz. He performed with Ray Drummond, Anthony Braxton, Tom Harrell, Sonny Sharrock, John Zorn, Walter Thompson, Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, Ned Rothenberg and many more.

Over his career he recorded more than fifteen albums under his name alone, including Sky Piece and Night Bird Song, the last releases with his trio and several more straight-ahead albums, including with quartet/quintet groups in I've Got Your Number and You Don't Know Me on Arabesque Records.

Thomas Chapin died of leukemia in 1998 at age forty. The New York Times called him "one of the more exuberant saxophonists and bandleaders in jazz" and "one of the few musicians to exist in both the worlds of the 'downtown' experimentalist scene, and mainstream jazz." He is survived by his wife, Terri Castillo Chapin, whom he married on October 15, 1997 in New York Hospital while being treated. He died four months later.

As leader and co-leader

Note: Box set collects all seven previous Knitting Factory Works releases by Chapin Trio. The eighth disc, Live! On Tour UC Davis, only appeared in this box set

As sideman

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As guest

Various artists

Books

Documentaries