Tom Warrington

Tom Warrington (born 1952 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American acoustic and electric bass player of modern jazz. He has worked and recorded with several celebrated musicians including Buddy Rich, Billy Childs, Bill Perkins, Dave Pell, Stan Getz, Karrin Allyson, and Denny Zeitlin.

He has taught bass at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and also authored a few books on music.

Tom Warrington was born in 1952 in Toledo, Ohio.

After receiving a master's degree in composition from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, Warrington began his professional music career in New York City in the mid-1970s. He was recruited by Buddy Rich's big band and played with the band for over two years. In 1977, he played bass on Rich's jazz album Class Of '78. In 1979, he was on Lionel Hampton Presents: Buddy Rich.

In 1979, Warrington was in trumpeter John McNeil's Quartet and recorded The Glass Room with Bill Bickford on guitar and Mike Hyman on drums. During that time, he also worked with Stan Getz, Dave Liebman, and Hank Jones.

In 1981, Warrington moved to Los Angeles and worked as a studio musician with several famed jazz and contemporary musicians including Freddie Hubbard, Billy Childs, Denny Zeitlin, Joe LaBarbera, Mose Allison, Lennie Niehaus, Arturo Sandoval, Ron Kalina, Bill Perkins, Peggy Lee, and Rosemary Clooney.

In 1986, he recorded Jim Doherty's Spondance (Livia Records) with Bob Sheppard (alto saxophone), Billy Mintz (drums), Louis Stewart (guitar), Jim Doherty (piano), Gordon Brisker (tenor saxophone), Randy Aldcroft (trombone), and Bobby Shew(trumpet, flugelhorn).

In February 1988, Warrington recorded live with Dave Pell Octet at Alfonse's Restaurant in Toluca Lake, California, alongside Bob Efford (baritone saxophone), Frank Capp (drums), Barry Zweig (guitar), Bob Florence (piano), and Steve Hufsteter (trumpet, flugelhorn). The recording was released as Live At Alfonse's on Headfirst Records.

In 1991, Warrington contributed to the soundtrack of Jodie Foster's drama Little Man Tate starring Foster, Dianne Wiest, and Adam Hann-Byrd. Under the supervision of David Sibley, Warrington played alongside Kurt Wortman (drums), Bob Sheppard (saxophone), Sid Page (violin), Ken Kugler (trombone), Mark Isham (trumpet), and Michel Piquemal's vocal ensemble (chorus).

Live performances and tours

• Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival with Randy Brecker's quintet
• With Billy Childs at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Canada and the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands
• With Steve Houghton at the Samix International Festival in South Africa
• Toured New Zealand and Scotland

Jazz Compass record label

In 1999, Warrington, Joe LaBarbera, Larry Koonse, and Clay Jenkins co-founded Jazz Compass record label in La Crescenta, California.

He then formed a trio "The Tom Warrington Trio" with Koonse and LaBarbera and released four albums on Jazz Compass:

• Corduroy Road (1999)
• Back nine (2004)
• The Mountain (2009)
• Nelson (2011)

Also on Jazz Compass, the four co-founders of the label released Snowfall: A Jazz Compass Christmas Celebration (2004), featuring pianist Bill Cunliffe.

• Essential Styles for the Drummer and Bassist, Bk 1: A Cross Section of Styles As Played by Today's Top Artists, co-authored with Steve Houghton (Alfred Music, 1992)
• Essential Styles for the Drummer and Bassist, Bk 2: A Cross Section of Styles As Played by Today's Top Artists, co-authored with Steve Houghton (Alfred Music, 1992)
• Bass in the Rhythm Section: Designed to Teach the Bassist How to Perform and Interact within a Rhythm Section (Alfred Music, 1997)
• Crawl Before You Walk: A Beginner's Method for Creating Powerful Walking Bass Lines (1999)
• Alfred MasterTracks Blues

Warrington was a faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (8th edition, Penguin, London, 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9)