After playing with the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine, Lucky Millinder, and Count Basie, he worked in rhythm and blues and then established a career in bop and hard bop, working with Kenny Clarke, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson. He taught at Dartmouth College in 1973 and 1974, then left the music business.
This is a stub; among other things it could use some commentary about Mr. Thompson's playing.