In addition to being a member of the University of Connecticut's jazz faculty, trombonist Peter McEachern played live with Thomas Chapin many times and is featured on Chapin's recording of INSOMNIA.
A longtime friend, Peter describes Thomas as "bending the genres, that was a part of his brilliance."
"Bending them, merging them together. Like bending the traditional genre to fit in more to the freer genre and vise-versa. I think that’s what a lot of people took away from Thomas.
"In the 2012 release, the 3-CD set NEVER LET ME GO, musically he pushes those tunes to the limit, with his sound, with what he’s doing harmonically, rhythmically and spiritually. You can tell, he’s like going to the edges, he’s trying to push it as far as he can.
"With Artie Shaw's MOON RAY, he makes it a more modern version, obviously, and he makes it Thomas, you know. In a sense, what a jazz musician does is they re-compose the piece, and all the musicians in the group are part of that process. It’s got (pianist) Peter Madsen’s imprint on it; it’s got everyone’s imprint. But certainly Thomas's. This was his concert and his gig and it’s his concept to do these tunes. So I think the most credit for that reworking of the piece goes to Thomas; it was his conception."
A longtime friend, Peter describes Thomas as "bending the genres, that was a part of his brilliance."
"Bending them, merging them together. Like bending the traditional genre to fit in more to the freer genre and vise-versa. I think that’s what a lot of people took away from Thomas.
"In the 2012 release, the 3-CD set NEVER LET ME GO, musically he pushes those tunes to the limit, with his sound, with what he’s doing harmonically, rhythmically and spiritually. You can tell, he’s like going to the edges, he’s trying to push it as far as he can.
"With Artie Shaw's MOON RAY, he makes it a more modern version, obviously, and he makes it Thomas, you know. In a sense, what a jazz musician does is they re-compose the piece, and all the musicians in the group are part of that process. It’s got (pianist) Peter Madsen’s imprint on it; it’s got everyone’s imprint. But certainly Thomas's. This was his concert and his gig and it’s his concept to do these tunes. So I think the most credit for that reworking of the piece goes to Thomas; it was his conception."
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