Charles Phillip Thompson (March 21, 1918 – June 16, 2016)[1] was an American swing and bebop pianist, organist, composer, and arranger.
[2] "He first studied violin and briefly played tenor saxophone, but took up piano as a teenager.
[2] Thompson chiefly worked with small groups, including the Coleman Hawkins/Howard McGhee sextet in 1944–1945.
[1] Throughout the 1940s he played and recorded with Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis[3] and J. C. Heard, among others.
[2] "Living variously on the West Coast, where he often worked with Vernon Alley, and in Toronto, Paris, and Zurich, he continued to lead small groups through the 1970s and 1980s.