Born in Essex, Ian Thompson has been working as an accomplished musician and performer for over 30 years.
At the age of 16, while still at school, Ian formed and fronted his first successful Jazz-Funk band ‘Easy Street’ - performing arrangements of well known tracks by artists such as Ronnie Laws, Grover Washington Junior, Spyro Gyra, The Average White Band & David Sanborn.
The band soon became very popular and gigged regularly, allowing Ian to save up and buy his very first professional saxophone (a Yamaha YAS62 alto sax) - which he still plays today!.
Inspired by other outstanding contemporary sax players such as Michael Brecker, Gerald Albright & Brandon Marsalis, Ian then spent the next 5 years working hard to improve his technique and sound, while gaining as much experience as possible by playing sax (and keyboards) for numerous bands and varied recording projects/ sessions.
Through these recording projects Ian also become interested and involved in production and studio engineering (which he also later went on to teach along with music technology).
After many auditions, much hard work and some ‘lucky breaks’... Ian joined his first tour with chart topping Soul singer Kenny Thomas. This led to 2 more tours with Kenny, and then live sessions (including 7 sell out dates at the Jazz Cafe) with popular soul group Drizabone. Following this, Ian went on to perform extensively with legendary singer Clem Curtis (& The Foundations), and to be a part of the band line-up for 3 tours, with 80s cult band ABC (featuring Martin Fry).
As a professional musician Ian has performed all over the World and has featured on many TV and recording sessions.
Past artist and band credits include:
Camelle Hinds (Central Line), Tippa Irie, Carleen Anderson, ABC, Kenny Thomas, Drizabone, Jonathan Butler, The Foundations, Edwin Starr, The Cool Notes, Monie Love, Guru Josh, Joey Negro.
TV performances also include:
Top of the Pops, The National Lottery Show, The Beat (Gary Crowley), The Clive James Show, The Dale Winton Xmas Special, Pebble Mill at One, Richard & Judy Show.
More recently... Ian's distinctive sound and playing has been heavily featured on 3 albums by multi-award winning artist, Georgie B of The Groove Association - including performances on his latest album 'More & More' and four no1. UK Soul chart single releases.
Ian has also collaborated on many releases on the 'Acid Lounge' label with UK guitarist supremo Dave Mascall (including 3 albums and 3 top 20 UK Soul chart singles), one of which was the successful 'BBQ House' track.
2019...
2019 is set to be an exiting year for Ian and sees the release of his brand new debut 5 track EP 'Night Breeze', which includes Ian's version of the classic 'Night Breeze' track as performed by Jazz Funk saxophone legend Ronnie Laws.
