Sea Of Dreams

#		Title	Length
1		Ibo	5:10	Play
2		The Melancholy Child	6:30	Play
3		Sertao Breeze	7:16	Play
4		The Lion and the Wolff	4:57	Play
5		It Was Never Love	6:04	Play
6		Shibun	6:22	Play
7		Ondas Bonitas	7:35	Play
8		Free Fall	5:51	Play
9		Step By Step	6:23	Play
10		Ms. Thang	4:41	Play
11		Yana	5:05	Play
12		Heather's Dilemma	2:06	Play
			1:08:00

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Description

Vern Thompson was born in Oakland, California on July 29th 1950. He was raised in Berkeley, CA, attending Berkeley High School and graduating in the spring of 1968. Much later Berkeley High would produce musicians Benny Green, Joshua Redmon and Peter Apfelbaum.

"At the time I attended Berkeley High there was very little recognition of jazz in the curriculum , there was only a jazz appreciation course and no jazz band."

In March of 1969 Vern went to work at KJAZ-FM off and on for the next twelve years using the air name Lee Thomas. He also attended San Francisco State University where he studied Broadcast Communications and music. During this time he began private study of the trumpet, starting with John Coppola and continuing to study with Warren Gale Jr., Eddie Henderson, Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson (studying with each for about two years).

"After I received my B.A. from San Francisco State I just continued to study trumpet and kept going with music. I wanted to be a professional musician. I wanted to be one of the best so I studied with those I (and those in the know) considered to be the best. "

However he would much later have to discontinue playing the trumpet because of an ailment called Focal Dystonia, a nerve and muscle disorder that causes a cramping and locking of the fingers. "This pretty much destroyed my technique... all the practicing five and six hours a day went down the tubes. But what I learned about improvisational theory, I was able to use in composition".

At this point he began to write more in order to stay with the music. "Since all I want to do in this music revolves around improvisation, when I write, I write for the improviser. I am specifically interested in writing music to expand the jazz repertoire. This music is, and always has been, about improvisation and no one who really innovated in the area of improvisation did so within a big band or a very large group. This music is about compactness. I feel that I can say all that I want to say with ten or less instruments."


Nearly every jazz poll contains a "talent deserving wider recognition" category. Among bay area musicians, Vern Thompson is clearly a member of that category. Vern has been sharpening his considerable compositional skills for over 20 years, and two CD's of his original recordings, "Passions of the Heart" and " Sea of Dreams," bear testament to his melodic and highly original conception. Thompson clearly is not afraid of challenging chord changes and intricate melodies: Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson's influences suffuse many of the tracks on both albums. Where "Passions of the Heart" tends toward less complex stylings, "Sea of Dreams" effectively blends the angular melodic lines and altered chordal structures of "Ibo" with the arrestingly beautiful harmonies of the Jobim-influenced "Ondas Bonitas". In a refreshing departure from the tendency towards rehashing standard jazz forms, Thompson speaks in a clear and unique voice. These recordings are gems, and the bay area should be proud to claim Vern Thompson as one of its own.
- Jerome Matthews
Bay Jazz.Com _______________________

"How odd that Thompson's presence as a player on his own disc is surprisingly understated. The composer/trumpeter damn near lurks in the shadows throughout this collection of impressive, mood evoking pieces that furrow a Jazz groove of heady, ultra confident, hard-bop-influenced playing as classy as Ellington's stuff. Thompson's Jazz flawlessly presents musical dialogues so thick and intense that the listener feels blessed to be privy to interactions that will offer even greater payoffs through future replays. (Keith) Fiddemont's visceral input is particularly noteworthy, though the interplay of every musician is so tight one wonders if the band hasn't long ago established some seriously deep roots. Do they all live in a commune together? Is that how they sound like they're effortlessly tapping into a single mindset? Lots of bang for the buck to be found here, and much regal soloing that does far better than most outings in presenting Jazz as American classical music."
- Dave McElfresh
Jazz Now Magazine