thomas chapin

In Their Own Words

Quotes from Colleagues and Friends

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I first met Thomas in the summer of 1980 at a Big Band Mingus Tribute Concert at Buhnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut. The band was stocked with A list New York players (Junior Cook, Bill Hardman, Ray Copeland and others, as well as the most prominent musicians from Hartford (Paul Brown, Peter McEachern, Mike Duquette, Joseph Celli and others). Each time Thomas stood up and soloed , the huge crowd went crazy .. Roaring with wild applause !! I was blown away ! We met after the performance and thus began our 18 year adventure filled journey together. During all those years he never played with any less brilliance, virtuosity, energy and emotion than he did that summer day.

His fiery genius, deep commitment and strong taskmaster qualities led the defining Trio ... with Mike Sarin and myself, to worldwide critically acclaimed performances until his tragically early passing.

Mario Pavone

The time I spent with Thomas and the Trio playing, traveling, and sharing a friendship was truly a joy and a blessing.  He embodied most of what I sought out in New York City's jazz and improvised music community:  an openness, curiosity, and willingness to embrace any-and-all musical styles and influences in forging a unique and personal voice and artistic vision.

I found Thomas to be comprised of many facets, some at odds with one another from time to time.  His constant dedication to availing himself of the creative spirit, and the ensuing artistic output thereof, were a way he made sense of these various aspects.  And the results were thrilling and powerful for all who saw or heard him perform; or viewed his collages; or chatted with him about any of his myriad interests.

He was a traditionalist; highly creative; rigorous; restless; intelligent; generous of spirit; curious; proactive; loyal; vulnerable; disciplined; AND he loved to laugh!!!!

Of course, we all miss his music--well, the music he would be making if still alive today. But those who knew him miss Thomas, the person--his friendship and laughter. He was a true artist and unique spirit!

Michael Sarin

Thomas Chapin, to me, was an example of what jazz musicians of his generation have become: musicians of broad influence, depth and scope. I do not recall if I ever met Thomas. In 1994, I moved to Brooklyn to engage the creative music scene developing at that time. Thomas was one of the people that participated in the music developments that have become identified as downtown (Knitting Factory et al..) but he was not afraid to show his mainstream influences. Through my associations with Thomas’s bandmates and by arranging his music for several tributes surrounding the release of the film, I am stunned by his energy, enamored with his recordings and grateful for his drive and commitment to the art of improvised music. We can all learn from Thomas to trust our impulses and to have the courage to live creatively.

Dave Ballou

So much can, has, and will be said about Thomas Chapin. Many layers, and like all of us, many Thomas's under one skin. So, I'll pick two pieces of how I frame him in my mind.

First, EMOTION: He seemed to channel his emotion, undistracted by outside influences, but still consider what was around him before, during, and with foresight, after. For me, this is the essence of it all. The music learning is just a vehicle for emotion. Some write, some run, some tell jokes, TC did it through music, his way. We all do it, just in a different way.

Second, SOUND: His sound was singular. His. The music voice. Was he the greatest saxophonist ever? Yes? No? It doesn't matter. He was TC. He had his voice and a story to tell while he was here. I believe he knew his time was limited. We know these things. Our body tells us in subtle ways.

He was my friend, teacher, and one of the cats.

Michael Musillami

I can't remember exactly how we met but several things stick out when I think of him. The first, of course being the spirit of his sound: so many saxophonists but so few with real identifiable spirit to their sound and Thomas always stuck out that way. We did gigs with bassist Mario Pavone in Connecticutt where Mario lived and a recording in New York with Ronnie Mathews, the late underrated pianist. I've lost track of Mario but he might actually have some recordings of our gigs together.... Thomas's joyous enthusiasm was infectious: I remember driving with him and Mario to a gig with Thomas raving in the back seat about all the different ways of playing and Mario and I delightfully amused!

It's very difficult to say in words the magic of Thomas's spirit but thankfully he left us with wonderful recordings and I'm very proud to have participated in one.

John Betsch

It's common with creative artists to talk about the love they put into their work.   This 'love' can mean many things - care, focus, commitment, curiosity. Thomas's musical voice had all these things but it also brought love in its most direct romantic sense. He was 'in love' with music and the vast realm of the sounds he could make and the sounds around him. This was so direct that it joined the idiomatic (jazz and the many other styles he mastered) with the universal (the joy of listening to nature and the human cacophony) so that, sophisticated as he was musically, a pure and tremendously attractive childlike wonder remained.

From the liner notes from the Double Band CD “Parting”:
… Thomas was a rare fellow, highly intelligent, full of arcane knowledge (“don’t be trying to help me with this crossword puzzle“), a searcher after all those unknowable truths, and yet beneath it all, not really an ‘intellectual’ in the conventional sense. He would always rather just do something than talk about or around it. Just like his playing, always direct, just what it was, the man singing, the pure improviser.

Ned Rothenberg

… people ARE how they play. Thomas's music was fresh and pure, spontaneous and generous of spirit … He was a bundle of energy, all the time … So devastating was his torturous last few months and his death, because he was such a ‘live’ person – so fun, and silly, and serious, and just full of music and piss and vinegar …

Peggy Stern, pianist

Thomas was monumental, as time goes by I grasp the enormity of his talent and spirit (and Stephanie Castillo’s film, Night Bird Song, was great help to understand him!). I was lucky to encounter him, he pushed my boundaries, or as we say in the music world, he kicked my ass!

Thomas remained voraciously interested in the musical language that I was introducing him to. He absorbed the phrasing style, and he discovered a way into this music from his own creative source as well. This appetite and this ability to turn the language around and make it his own was very inspiring. There was no question that he was right there with you every time you played. His commitment to making music was complete.

Pablo Aslan

The first time I recall meeting Thomas Chapin was at a Lionel Hampton audition at Carroll Studio’s in NYC around 1989. I don’t have much of a memory of the encounter except that Lionel kept knocking his Pepsi off his vibes with his mallet and Bill Titone his manager would replace it and Hamp would knock it off again. Thomas was leading the saxophone section and smiled a lot. Thomas was encouraging to me during my audition.  I didn’t see Thomas again for a while until I got a frantic phone call from him one afternoon telling me that his drummer Pheeroan AkLaff wasn’t able to make the gig at the Knitting Factory that evening and asked if I would be able to make the gig. At this time in my life I was really trying to be a mainstream jazz drummer so Thomas’ music was everything but that and would be a real mind bending and challenging experience for me. I showed up to the Knitting Factory and met the great bassist Mario Pavone “now one of my dearest friends” for the very first time and we began to rehearse the compositions that we would play that evening. Right away from the very first note we had a vibe and I knew that this was going to be a great night. We played to an enthusiastic crowd and the Thomas Chapin trio was born! Later that year A&M Records released a compilation CD Called Live at The Knitting Factory Vol. 3 and one tune “Insomnia” from that very first gig with Thomas was chosen to be on the CD. I didn’t know that my first gig with Thomas had been recorded but there it was the very first official recording of the Thomas Chapin Trio!

Thomas was such a fun person to be around always cracking me up with things he was thinking about. But he had another side to him that was very serious and he was demanding of our attention at rehearsals having a very specific approach to composition “a task master” as Mario Pavone would always say.
As a result of this release of the “Live at the Knitting Factory” CD we started doing tours of Europe and Thomas’ trio was on its way.
Thomas Chapin was one of the finest musicians I’ve ever known. A true master of the saxophones, flute, various miscellaneous instruments and a very special person in my life. I will never forget him.
Gone way too soon.

Steve Johns, drummer Sept 1st 2016

I still feel Thomas Chapin’s spirit in my life, hear his music, and laughter. Hanging with Thomas was always a high voltage experience whether on or off the bandstand. Thomas “was” music and wherever he found himself it became a musical experience. His palette was wide open, certainly the concert setting whether mainstream or avant garde, but also finding pipes that produced tones in an abandoned industrial site, or novelty instruments at toy stores.  Thomas  allowed me the space, to feel I could contribute to the moment and encouraged me along with countless others to develop my voice. I was also amazed not only by his musical abilities but by his sensitivity and support for all those around him.  I often call on my memories of our many gigs and hangs to help inspire me. I feel fortunate to have played and recorded with him, and to have had many late night talks about music and other mysteries. We are lucky he left us with a body of recorded work so all can hear his brilliance, artistic integrity, and get a glimpse of this champion of the creative spirit. I am reminded of just how much I miss him as I write this.

Peter McEachern

Thomas Chapin and I first met at my apartment in Brooklyn in the mid-80s through bassist Kiyoto Fujiwara. How lucky I am to have spent so much time together playing and talking and laughing with this wide-open musical genius! Thomas was truly one of the finest creative musicians I ever met in my life!  He could have filled a stadium with his energy for music and the full spectrum of life! His love of everything to do with music and improvising effected everyone around him...including me. I'm sure in the years that he has been gone he has been busy inspiring the Gods with his joy and visions of a better world full of improvised music for everyone! I miss Thomas everyday!

Peter Madsen

Thomas Chapin was my good friend for several years until his untimely passing in 1998. I met him, I believe, in 1987 or ’88 while performing at Visiones Jazz Club in New York City with Night Ark, a Middle Eastern Jazz fusion group led by oudist Ara Dinkjian with whom Thomas attended Hartt School of Music. Thomas approached me in the club and after speaking together for a few minutes we felt an immediate connection. We decided to get together to play, and soon we were doing gigs together, both in his bands and mine. In his bands, usually it was with Mario Pavone or Kyoto Fujiwara on bass and Steve Johns or Mike Sarin or Reggie Nicholson on drums.

What made playing with Thomas so special for me was the immediacy, passion and joy he exuded in every note, not to mention his utter technical mastery of not only the alto saxophone but also the flute, his first instrument. This places him, in my opinion, in a league with the very finest of Jazz flutists ever to have played that instrument.

On a personal level, I felt a kinship with Thomas that embraced non-musical interests in areas such as politics, philosophy, mysticism, meditation and world culture. When I suffered a traumatic injury to my hands in 1991 requiring surgery and an extended recuperation, Thomas was the only person who visited me during my convalescence to offer some cheer and laughs.

A highlight of our professional work together was a two-week tour of France as a member of Thomas’ quartet with Pavone and Sarin in 1991 shortly after my injury, including a concert in the Toulon Jazz Festival. Another highlight was a live 1992 recording of my quartet at Visiones with Thomas and bassist Calvin Hill and drummer Jeff Williams. This music was eventually released under the title Quartet Language on the Playscape label, and received glowing accolades.

I will always remember Thomas’ humor, humanity and kindness. The fact that he was a complete musician with whom I shared significant history only adds a sense of pride and accomplishment to the essential friendship and mutual respect underlying our collaborations.

Long Live Thomas!

Armen Donelian

I first heard Thomas Chapin in 1976, as a freshman at Hartt School of Music. He was one of the soloists in the school’s jazz big band. I was not a fan of jazz at that time, but when Thomas stood up and played, something magical happened. His energy, freedom, unselfconsciousness, and sheer joy shattered all categories and subdivisions of music and art. I was so taken by his music that I did something I have rarely done: I went backstage to meet him. I told him how much I enjoyed his performance, and introduced myself as an oud (fretless middle-eastern lute) player. Although he was polite, I was left with the feeling that the jazz fraternity is an exclusive club!

Nonetheless I continued to follow and admire his progress, which eventually provided him the opportunity to travel around the world. A few years after our first meeting, to my utter surprise, he knocked on my apartment door, and asked if we could talk about world music! Soon after that, he began inviting me to play with him at his club gigs, concerts, and recordings.

Playing music with Thomas was both thrilling and intimidating, as he forced me to stretch my own limitations.

However, my most precious moments with Thomas were our countless hours talking, about everything. He was so curious and confused about life, and yet at the same time he was so sweet, generous, and child-like. Of course, this all came through loud and clear in his music.

There is nobody like him. I miss him. I’m so grateful to have experienced his magic.

Ara Dinkjian

I personally liked and admired Thomas Chapin, though I had had no musical interaction with him. I became aware of him through his performances at the Knitting Factory and our mutual musicians friends, Ned Rothenberg and Michael Sarin. When I learned he was sick I visited him in the hospital and as I had a car I could offer to help out with some medical appointment. The connection was a predominantly a human one and recognition that Thomas was a warrior musician, virtuoso saxophonist, who could write memorable tunes and as a performer gave all at each gig with a level of virtuosity, energy and spirit. His demise was a real loss.

Mark Dresser

I know Thomas from the scene in Hartford, Connecticut. I was living there and that's where he grew up. So we were playing at the 880 Jazz Club in Hartford together very often. We were in a few big bands together. He also participated in my Kaleidoscope Ensemble, that had a painter, a dancer, a sculpturer, an actor, a cook, and 4 musicians. They were doing their thing at the same time.
In January 1992 I joined Thomas Chapin at a two weeks tour in Spain. Carlo Morena was on piano, drummer was Fernando Llorca and Jorge Pardo played tenor and soprano saxophones and flute. I still have a tape from the gig in Zaragoza (Centro Civico Delicias, January 11th). That was quite a concert. As always, playing with Thomas was very energetic and very inspiring to me.
We were good friends.

Joe Fonda

My friendship with Thomas goes back to 1977, my freshman year at the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. He was still called ’Tom’ then. He was two years older, and our birthdays were two days apart. We became friends immediately and he began to introduce me to players on the jazz scene in Hartford at that time. I often accompanied him to gigs. He played all kinds of music, including completely improvised concerts with Zasis, a collective with Thad Wheeler, Bill Sloat and Rob Kaplan. This group in particular had a profound effect on my musical understanding, and Thomas' personal aesthetic regarding music and sound was revelatory for me.  

In the 1990’s, while I was living in Manhattan and Thomas was in Queens, he began studying with a spiritual teacher named Gil Barretto. Gil admired Thomas’ music and was a saxophonist himself. Gil later became my husband.  

One day, long after Thomas had passed away, I realized it was he who first pointed the way. He showed me how it was possible to access the infinite realm of sound, like an Explorer, and bring back treasures from those journeys that you could share with others through your music.  

Thomas did what he came here to do. I’m sure his life and music will continue to be inspirational for many musicians, and artists of all kinds.

Sue Terry

I first met Thomas in 1976 when looking for a practice room at Hartt School of Music. I heard someone playing the hell out of Giant Steps on piano. Through the window I saw a head of wild black hair, body swaying as he played…and I had thought he was a sax player! Each Sunday we would set up a huge array of instruments in Bliss Auditorium at Hartt and play for hours. We became a quartet called Zasis — Thomas on woodwinds, artillery shells, bird whistles and toys, Thad Wheeler on percussion, strings of wrenches, bundt pans, and a kitchen sink, Bill Sloat on double bass and electric bass, and me on acoustic and electric keyboards, tape recorders, and misc. percussion. Performances were totally improvised. Over the eight years we had developed ensemble thinking rehearsal strategies and compositional sense that served us all well.

In Thomas’ words: "Our music tells stories, paints pictures.  It creates new worlds. You become a leader and a follower...If anything has given me spiritual enlightenment, or direction in music or helped my musical awareness, Zasis has been my source." - (Interview by Phil Tankel, Hartford Advocate, 1977)

Often we would finish playing a piece and we’d all wonder where that came from. Chapin would then shriek out laughing. These became known as Zasisizations.

In my last conversation with Thomas he had resigned himself to the fact that his survival was out of his control and in God's hands.  Even then he kept saying that we have to do a CD.  He emphatically yelled into the phone, "ZASIS LIVES!"

He’d be happy to see many of our techniques devised for rehearsals being used at Arizona State University in transdisciplinary improvisations.

So glad Thomas is coming back around in this way. I think of him so often.

Rob Kaplan

After hearing my first set of Thomas Chapin late in 1980, I asked myself, “Why isn’t this guy famous?” To my ears, Thomas was one of the most original and accomplished saxophonists to play in the 1980s and 1990s. Nobody I’ve heard since has equalled or surpassed him in skill or inventiveness. Thomas not only possessed a distinctive style; he possessed listening abilities that enabled him to blend with any musical situation in a protean manner while projecting his singular musical personality within the context of the performance. When he and I performed as a duo in the early 1990s, I never had to tell him what to play; his grasp of my poetry and his ear for music enabled him to play parts that sounded far better than any I could have created for him. He was one of the most complete musicians I ever heard. He was also a dear friend, whom I miss very much.

From the text from ‘Put Your Quartet In And Watch The Chicken Dance’ on “Menagerie Dreams”:
In the Houston Street performance space his fingers weave flute-sounds over the toe-dance that syncopates his beat.

Vernon Frazer, poet-bassist 

Thomas Chapin was an incredible instrumentalist and composer. He stretched the boundaries of style and was enigmatic in that way. He really knew Jazz, meaning straight ahead jazz, but also embraced  free jazz as well as Brazilian, Tango , Flamenco, Salsa, etc.

He played flute like no other and his alto sound was strong and unmistakably recognizable, an unusual thing in the days of clones and imitators. When he was playing strong it was with tremendous energy but his ballads would make anyone close to tears.

I knew Thomas from Hartt College of Music in 1976. He was way ahead of everyone on his instruments and conception. He later went on to Rutgers University. For a few years in the late 80's he had me in his band Spirits Rebellious. These compositions were very influenced by Brazilian music especially Hermeto Pascoal. After that group he went on to from his trio which was his primary group till the end of his life. He died way too young but left a great body of recordings and compositions. His sister in law's documentary film really captures Thomas as he was. 

Original bassist and friend from Spirits Rebellious, Arthur Kell and I have recently started playing again as Spirits Rebellious , playing the original tunes Thomas wrote during that period. We are revisiting these great compositions with percussionist and original member Joe Cardello, drummer Mark Ferber and saxophonist Stacy Dillard. The band is different without Thomas but still very exciting.

Saul Rubin

I met Thomas when we were fifteen and just students at a private school. From the first note, his playing knocked me out. Everyone at the school stood up and took notice and never forgot. He was astonishing — his connection to the music was already fully formed. For some reason we bonded deeply and it lasted a lifetime. We improvised into the night on anything and everything: standards, Stevie Wonder, free music. He was possessed even then.

Thomas had it all: heart, energy, sound, technique, concept, humbleness. He was a deeply thoughtful person, a deep well of sensitivity, on and off the bandstand. And his commitment to music was so innate and profound that anyone listening couldn’t help but hear it. Out flowed something spiritual, something with humility. The tremendous strength in his music derived from that foundation. And he could have so much fun with music that it infected you. There was an indescribable, piercing beauty to his playing. It was there as a teenager and it was there the last time he played. He was seventeen when he said to me: “Always create something with your music. Keep your original music happening. Always be creating.” That advice stayed with me all my life.

Arthur Kell

Tom (Chap) as we called him in Connecticut where I met and heard him with Mario Pavone groups playing in Hartford and Waterbury was a constant source of inspiration to me. I marveled at the intensity of his playing both on alto and flute. He also brought any group he played with up a notch in terms of energy and creativity. His precocious curiosity of the world around informed and influenced his music profoundly. Our collaboration in the mid 80's playing regularly at the 55 Bar in Greenwich Village allowed me to respond to and be part of that "Chapin" energy and exploration. Playing with Tom was an exhilarating ride. One morning after an evening of intense playing I was compelled to call him because I felt I had to tell him how privileged I was to have taken this intimate musical journey with him. That feeling I had that morning is still fresh and as palpable 30 years later.

I loved Tom and blessed to have been there on the scene with him.

Michael Rabinowitz

I first met Thomas Chapin when I got to Rutgers/Livingston College in 1978.  I was really impressed with his playing and his sight reading skills.  In the student big band led by Paul Jeffrey, we had a lot of very difficult music to play and Tom (I knew him as Tom) would always be reading through most of the parts right from the first time when the rest of us would be just hanging onto a few notes.

He was very passionate about music and his excitement and interest in all kinds of music was infectious and I loved his spirit.  He and I would hang out socially and he turned me on to many artists I didn’t know about including people like Frank Strozier and Roland Kirk.  I had heard of Roland, but didn’t really get into his music but Tom encouraged me to listen to everything without judgement.

I loved listening to Tom’s solos and especially loved his flute playing.  He had a lot of interaction with alto saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding, who was one of Thomas’ primary influences at the time who was very much on the scene at Livingston.

Tom graduated a couple of years before I did and when I graduated, a couple of months later I joined the Lionel Hampton band and played next to Tom in the reed section until he left to begin a solo career in 1986.  Tom quickly rose to prominence and it was gratifying to see his acceptance in both the straight-ahead and the so called “avant-garde” or free-jazz audiences.  I know he was a one of a kind artists with tremendous abilities to incorporate all of his varied influences into a blend that was uniquely his own and had a true commitment to making music his way yet he reached people at a very deep level.

He didn’t give me much advice, but occasionally would say things that stuck with me and I knew he and I shared a great respect for each other’s playing.  I know we won’t see anyone like Thomas Chapin ever again and I know his music will endure and even though his life was cut short in his prime, he left enough music with us to prove forever that he was a major creative force that set the bar extremely high for all of us to be inspired by and challenged by.

Adam J. Brenner

I don’t know what I can say that has not already been said about Thomas Chapin. You have so many great musicians from his life recounting his accolades in spades. All I can say was that he influenced and inspired me and still does to this day. His music and his playing were some of the greatest and most memorable moments in my musical life and he helped nurture a passion for the pursuit of beauty in everything I do.

He was a renaissance man of a sort. In everything to do with music, in every object he found he saw the potential of a sound, a voice to make heard. And he would make it happen. I felt as though Thomas was creating history with what he composed and played. His influences and musical tastes were vast and yet he made it all seem so obvious and simple.

One of the times at the original Knitting Factory, I burst out laughing during Thomas’ set. Afterwards, I went to speak to Thomas and apologize for my out burst but Thomas looked at me with his characteristic smile and said, ‘no man, I dug it cause I knew you got it’.

It took me a good 15 years before I could speak of Thomas without breaking down.

His passing is still unbelievable to me but I accept it now. I still miss my friend.

Allen Won

Lines for TC
(trippin’ on Chapin)

Thomas Chapin: reed player / flutist / composer / visual artist / collagist / poet / mentsch / everyman \ renaissance man / musicians ‘s musician / warm heart true friend / whom i love & miss & think of every day >
Thomas Chapin:  seeker / innovator / faithful forgiving formidable soul >

Thomas Chapin: the ears of music when the husks are stripped away /
the voice that resonates when the duet is in disjunctive harmony
bras(s)h  sweet  kernels
i speak to you as you speak to me
this sound we hear that is one in us all
& all the silence & all the taste & touch & scent & sight
that is all this very big/small WORLD

 i could if i could play
      music   could   if i could say
         music  would  this way           that way
              the way      the fingers dance
                  the way   the singer   takes a chance
                          &
                               i    should
                                            if i could  & i would
                 if i could   
                                 play  music
                                 say        music
                                                    be
                                                             music      
         see music         that music would be you…

The late Steve Dalachinsky, poet

Thomas Chapin lives in us, not as a memory but actually as a wholesome existence, not just as a musician in a narrow sense of the labeling category, but as a cosmic total being. His angelic personality & his total dedication to what he loved were so genuine & enduring. Music; art; poetry; traveling & adventures… he loved everything life offered him & he loved people he encountered whether it was brief or more involved. We knew Thomas loved us & he knew we loved him. This type of  total pure love & friendship does not happen too easily. The most amazing thing about Thomas was that he knew many people & everyone of us had identical reactions to his loving nature. The love between him & us was so real that no one had to claim or to declare it since it was always there in the most natural manner.

Yuko Otomo, poet

2/22/1998 - I was really deeply saddened to learn of saxophone/flutist/composer Thomas Chapin's death, even as I expected in recent months that it might come to this. I only knew Thomas personally for a brief time, but will always remember the concert I did with him in June/97 at the Knitting Factory fest with his group (also in the band was Santi Debriano on bass, Matt Wilson on drums, and Steve Nelson on vibes). It was one of those rare concerts where everything seemed to click, and despite being burdened at the time with having recently completed a round of chemo, Thomas was in inspired form. I really appreciated Thomas' giving nature, both in his music which was so open-minded in it's approach, and as a person; from the little I knew him personally, I could sense a truly gentle, generous person who it seems would have been hard-pressed to ever offend anyone.

You'll be missed, Thomas.

D.D. Jackson

Music Industry Friends

Thomas Chapin was a force of nature. He was wild, funny, smart, considerate and an incredible musician and composer. I LOVE his music and thought he was one of the most compelling live performing artists I have ever seen. I had the honor of presenting him in Newport, New York City, Japan and other places. For me, and many others, he stood at the center of numerous disparate worlds of jazz at that time. He was a master of all forms of jazz and maybe proved that these "schools" or "styles" weren't so different at all. He left us way too soon and for those who knew him, saw him play and know his music, he will be with us forever.

Danny Melnick
President - Absolutely Live Entertainment

Danny Melnick is a festival, tour and concert producer and at the time was working with George Wein's Festival Productions, Inc. Danny was one of the people who booked Thomas at some of the larger festivals for the first time. Danny knew that Thomas belonged on the big stages such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the Madarao, Japan Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival in NYC.

I met Thomas Chapin in the mid-1980’s when a poet friend of mine named John Richey organized a band with former students from the Rutgers Livingston Jazz School in New Brunswick, NJ. A guitarist named Bob Musso picked four of his favorite musicians from the school, adding John Richey to sample radio, TV & tapes, as well as spoken word cut-ups. I had already known about Thomas Chapin after witnessing him play with the student jazz ensemble a few years earlier, playing one short solo amongst more than a dozen student saxists and blowing everyone away. The band was called Machine Gun which seemed most appropriate since their sets were an assault on the senses. Combining the best elements of free jazz/rock/punk/funk with Thomas’s alto sax screaming and pushing them higher and higher. Bob Musso soon started a label called MuWorks which I volunteered for. MuWorks released an early Thomas Chapin record called “Radius”, which I wrote the liner notes for and which remains one of the undiscovered gems of modern jazz. Mr. Chapin put together a trio in the early nineties with Mario Pavone and Steve Johns, which became one of the hottest and most inventive bands to emerge from the Downtown Scene. That scene was centered in a small club called the Knitting Factory on Houston in NYC. The Thomas Chapin Trio never ceased to amaze all who heard them so I was happy to help them get gigs. I got them a great slot opening for a John Zorn electric trio at the Knit which won them a new and devoted following, a month later they were signed to the new Knit Works label, which went on to release seven of their CDs, all wonderful!  The Knit (Knitting Factory) also organized European tours for some of their artists so Thomas’s Trio gained an international audience as their fame grew. Each of those seven trio CDs are great with Thomas adding a horn section on one and a string section on another disc. I tried not to miss any performance that Thomas made since every one was special. he always gave his best and uplifted those in attendance. There is a clip of the Thomas Chapin Trio at the Newport Jazz Festival that captures them at their best. If you haven’t seen it, please do check it out - it is just incredible!

I keep a large picture of Thomas Chapin on display at my record store Downtown Music Gallery in Chinatown, NYC. Folks often ask who it is and if we are related and I am only too happy to talk about him and play his music in the store. Thomas passed away from leukemia in 1998, he was way too young, only 40 at the time. His music and his spirit continue to inspire those who knew him when he was alive and those who have discovered him after his passing.

Bruce Lee Gallanter
Co-Manager & Co-Owner, Downtown Music Gallery, NYC

Bruce Lee Gallanter founded Downtown Music Gallery in May of 1991, and for over 25 years DMG has promoted all forms of New Music: Avant Jazz, Progressive Rock, Modern Composer and Downtown Scene Experimental sounds.

Thomas Chapin is a profound manifestation of the traditional values, ancient wisdom and pursuit of Transcendence that have always been the true legacy of jazz.  Sublime artistry, unique musical vision and unbridled passion were his hallmarks, but his warmly sincere humanism and deep spirituality made him an utter joy to know.  It’s often said of some special people, “to know him is to love him.”  Thomas was the embodiment of that concept.

Marty Khan

Friend and occasional advisor to Thomas, Marty was a longtime manager for artists such as The Art Ensemble of Chicago, George Russell, Sam Rivers, John Zorn, World Saxophone Quartet, Sonny Fortune and others from 1976-2000. Today he is an author and a strategic planner/management advisor for a number of artists and non-profits. www.outwardvisions.com

Thomas Chapin was not so much a "colleague" as a frequent subject of my lens, a favorite and preferred one at that. Thomas was rare in the milieu of jazz men whom I pointed my cameras at, in that he afforded me the greatest respect and never ever showed displeasure, attitude or sexist shun towards me.  In fact, he demonstrated gratitude and acceptance and understanding that my role in contributing to the lexicon of jazz history was as valid as any member of his band. Each time I photographed him he accomplished something that was precious and all too rare for me, that being his spirit was so welcoming, his heart so full of love and respect for the audience and I felt the same generosity and acceptance towards me. Not all in his world of music have extended the same kindness towards me and I am always going to remember that with profound gratitude.

My memory of his playing is mostly the joyousness that I felt emanating from the stage and Thomas' horn. His relative obscurity at that time was eclipsed by the magnanimity of his personality!

Enid Farber 

Enid Farber is considered one of the world's top jazz photographers. Farber and her work were featured in Jazztimes Magazine's December 1997 "Classic Jazz Photography" issue as one of the masters of jazz photography. She was the sole female of four names mentioned in the New York Times in May 1997 as "one of the young generation of talented photographers documenting the current jazz scene". Some of Farber's classic jazz images were selected for noted filmmaker Ken Burns' historic 20-hour documentary on jazz aired on PBS in January 2001 and its companion book. In the 20th anniversary issue of Jazziz Magazine, the editors said, "If we were to identify a JAZZIZ visual historian, her name would no doubt be Enid Farber. For longer than a decade, her photography has taken readers on an odyssey, to experience the most adventurous music & to meet the most interesting personalities, from both the new and traditional worlds of jazz".

It was a privilege to know and work with Thomas Chapin who left such an important and lasting musical legacy. Thomas had a unique view of the world that allowed him to see and hear things that other people could not. His insights and observations came out, not just through his music, but through everything he did in life. Just being in the same room or space with Thomas had a way of opening you up to new possibilities. I’ll never forget seeing Thomas when I was in Amsterdam and at the North Sea Jazz Festival. The festival had so many bands playing simultaneously but Thomas’s sound cut through everything and drew me right in. Never satisfied to remain on stage, he would stroll among the audience with his wireless mic and find individual connections with audience members. For anyone new to Thomas’s music, I would highly recommend listening to the opening track on Anima. Thomas had an energy and spirit that lives on today and belongs to the canon of great jazz -- and music in general.

Sam Kaufman 

Sam Kaufman was Thomas Chapin’s friend and agent/manager during the last year of his life. He now runs a partnership marketing agency where he works as an agent for brands such as Bloomingdale’s, Hugo Boss and Canon

from Terri Castillo Chapin, NYC:

It's gratifying to see the force of Thomas Chapin and the power of his music still inspires and continues to generate high interest and relevancy among new listeners, musicians, including younger, next-generation players, and the general public since his passing in 1998. 

For those of us who knew him, who played with him and who saw him perform live, it is no surprise, as Thomas was an original, "the real deal" as international saxophonist John Zorn has said. Thomas himself explained it: "Music was never something I had to consider, it is my state of being."

Now, the new documentary, "Thomas Chapin, Night Bird Song" by Emmy-winning filmmaker Stephanie J. Castillo, captures and celebrates his deep spirit as a human being and as one of the great players in jazz who left us too soon at age 40. When Thomas passed 18 years ago, critics told me, "Thomas will only get more known as the years pass. He will always be discovered by new audiences because people are always looking for quality, and that is what Thomas was about."

This has proven to be true. He is Alive--in the music, in our hearts. And in new hearts.

More: I Remember Thomas Chapin

Fans remembering Thomas

“Thomas was a natural force, a desert flower, a volcano of super-heated magma, a solar wind magnetic field that produced the unpredictable beauty of aurora borealis. Nature gave him to us briefly and then took him away. Fortunately he left us some recordings, videos, and music to remember his work long after each of us is taken away by the force that produced him.

He was a brother to me during our too-few encounters in Vancouver and New York City and I miss him dearly.”

Laurence Svirchev

 “I did not know Thomas personally.  I have been a big fan of his music since the mid 90's.  I believe " I got your Number" was the first one I heard then Menagerie Dreams, Insomnia, Haywire, Sky Piece etc.  All of these recordings are played regularly in my house.  It is music that stands the test of time as far as I am concerned.  There is something new and fresh every time I listen to them.  Those recordings hipped me to Mario Pavone.  I am a bassist myself.  I was inquiring about getting some of Thomas’ scores and Glenn Wilson directed me to the website. I was wondering if there were any scores of Thomas' for purchase.  Particularly from Night Bird Song or Sky Piece.  

Sincerely,

Chris”

Chris Brydge

I went to NYC for a month in my mid twenties (in about 92 or 93) to study drums with Jo Morello. While there I listened to a lot of jazz radio and heard a load of new jazz musicians I had never heard of in Scotland. Thomas was one of the people I heard that I thought “Wow”.

Like him I am interested in free music and also ‘inside' jazz - and there aren’t that many musicians who really seem truly at home in both worlds. You get free-er players that are comfortable playing more inside music (with pre-set harmonic changes and stricter structures) but bring a free aesthetic to it  and vice versa inside players who are comfortable playing free but bring a more inside aesthetic to what they do there. So it is like two friendly (or not so friendly) tribes who from time to time visit each other on the other tribe's territory.

That is all good and fine but it is rarer I feel for musicians to truly inhabit both worlds and belong to both tribes equally and I heard that from Thomas’s music immediately and also from reading about him later. I try to be like that - well I can’t help but try because I am equally drawn and compelled by the challenges these different worlds set us - the different challenges of freedom and groove and control and finding freedom and expression within constraints. I try and find musicians like that to play with too - like Tom and Per.

Sadly I never got to see Thomas  play live though either in NYC or in Glasgow.

I brought one of Thomas' CDs back to Scotland and transcribed Lift Off and played it with my Octet for a while. I also brought back a whole bunch of influences in my head from that trip - very much including Thomas' music and sound - and shared them with my friends and colleagues here.

I always found it interesting asking musicians if they know of Thomas’ music - if they do it is a like a badge that they have checked out stuff in a certain direction and always makes me go a little bit “Ok we are possibly of the same tribe”.

When I started Trio Red in 2012 I revived the tune and have been playing it live and talking about Thomas’ music when I introduce the tune.

I was aware of Thomas’s passing and how so many musicians were really affected by it. We had a similar experience with a good friend of mine here - martyn bennett who died aged 33 from lymphoma in 2005 - he was also the best of us. I get the sense that his friends and colleagues felt that about Thomas too.  We played a huge concert for Martyn Bennett this year with an 80 piece orchestra and choir to 2000 people, - it was even televised and got an amazing reaction - which was wonderful and took his music to a whole new audience,  and I know that feeling of keeping the spirit of someone alive. I can really see the love and dedication you are all putting into doing that with Thomas.

It is an incredible thing how music can touch people and stay with people, even those who have never met, and can plant seeds and help shape people in a way that lasts a long time. Music can go out into the world and slowly and gently and even silently get through to places you least expect. Even darkest Scotland…. : ) As creative people I believe we create ourselves partly by what we love and what we reject in our musical influences. And that includes the notes and rhythms played but also the way you live and work and interact. I guess music helps everyone define themselves, but it is even more so for active musicians.

So Thomas Chapin definitely helped me to define the kind of musician I wanted to be and I am so grateful for that and that is one of the reasons I want to play his composition and mention his name to people.

I am very glad I sent the track to you all and made this amazing connection. I am looking forward to coming to the US this summer and playing Thomas’s tune with my group to audiences there. Hopefully people will like it!

Thomas Bancroft, Glasgow, Scotland

I had heard and listened to his Trio in a club called 'Jubez' in Karlsruhe (Germany) and was simply blown away by his music.

So when I found out that he was going to come back and play again, I was super excited and spread the news.

Two of my friends, Nikolaus and Alexander, came all the way from Munich just to hear him play.

So that night we went to the Jubez early, full of anticipation. 

The gig was still a while off and we were going to fetch us drinks when we saw Thomas standing at the bar with another band member.

I took a deep breath and approached him, saying that I am usually too shy for this, but I simply wanted to say how much I admire the beauty and energy of his music.

Thomas was all kindness and told me not to ever be shy! Then he offered to sign a CD (Third Force) which I had on me and asked me for my name.

I said that my name is Jens, but I wouldn't mind if he would sign with his name. He chuckled and did so and then signed the CDs that my friends had brought.

We thanked him profoundly, a little later on he went on stage and we got to experience an evening full of ecstasy and joy.

I will never forget his positive energy and kindness, I can still feel it as I am writing this even though decades have pased.

Jens Steckhan 

My mum always listened to classical music and I had some piano lessons, but never understood what it means to practice. So, to my regret now, I never really learned to play. Maybe also because I discovered Jazz only too late. I was 19 and at university in Munich, Germany, when I went to my first Jazz concert. A dear friend took me along ... a winter night in an industrial, remote area of Munich, taking the underground, then a bus, then walking through the snow, passing derelict industrial sites ... we entered a vast hall, almost empty, just some bistro tables and chairs in front of a stage with three musicians ... sax, cello and drums. We sat down, the band started to play ... I never had heard anything like this ... so strange, not really music to my ears at the time, but so painfully beautiful ... something touching me that was not from this world. I still remember the names of the cello and the sax player, Hank Roberts and Tim Berne. A magical night. Even though, next to us, there was only one other table of listeners, they played and played through the night ...

Ever since, it must have been in the late 1980ies, I have been looking for a reprise, for another player, another band, creating such a magical moment. I went to all the concerts I could catch that featured players from New York and the Knitting Factory. I heard many great concerts, not least because the local Munich jazz club, the Unterfahrt, regularly had bands from New York visiting. But those magical moments I can count on one hand. And two of them I owe to Thomas Chapin. Once in Karlsruhe in Germany and another time when I visited New York for three weeks in 1995 and spent most nights at the Knitting Factory. Thomas's playing really was something else …

Alexander Kurz

If someone came from another planet and asked what jazz is, I'd have them watch Thomas.

Lonnie Hull DuPont

Dear Terri,

I am a saxophone player, and I've been listening to Thomas Chapin's music for a long time. My friend Jon Madof, who studied composition with Mario Pavone, introduced me to the music while I was in college. Sadly, I never got to hear Thomas play live; but I interned at the Knitting Factory during the summer of 1998, and I was there to see the tribute to Thomas Chapin + Brass at the NY Jazz Fest. Recently, I viewed the documentary, and it inspired me to revisit all my favorite Thomas Chapin Trio albums. I did a little internet digging, and ended up finding the page where you posted the sheet music. This is a treasure trove. I'm assuming that these are Thomas's original charts (and not transcriptions)? As an arranger and composer, the brass ensemble music is of particular interest to me a because I play in a brass band called West Philadelphia Orchestra.  I really appreciate your sharing this music, and I'm happy to support Thomas's legacy.

Thanks,

David Fishkin

I've been a fan of Thomas's music for a long time, am a fellow saxophonist, and used to play several of his tunes with a trio several years ago. His music remains an inspiration. Watched "Night Bird Song" last night and was again energized by his sound and spirit. I remain a fan, and am grateful for his music and inspiration.

Eric Haltmeier

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