Discovery
Bob Thompson discovered music when he stumbled on a piano under a tarp at the county fair.  

In elementary school, his exasperated piano teacher said: "I don't know anyone alive that plays that fast!" Bob said: "Do you know anybody dead?"

​He wore a zoot suit to a dance at his high school and jumped from its second floor just for kicks.
Sprout
Bob dropped out of UC Berkeley and played piano gigs in Sacramento.

Barney Bigard, a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra, asked Bob to sit in.
One semester
Bob studied music at UC Berkeley and became disillusioned that be-bop was frowned upon.  His pal, Stan Cavell, was in bands with him at Berkeley but earned fame in the world of philosophy with a book called the Claim of Reason.
Bob dropped out and took up an apprenticeship with a professor that helped him get an arranging job at KGO in San Francisco. His pal, Stan Cavell, was in bands with him at Berkeley but earned fame in the world of philosophy with a book called the Claim of Reason.
Ex-pat
He went to Paris and saw Ravel performed live. Arranging gigs for Gloria Lasso and Jaqeline Francois were not enough to live on so it was off to...
Hollywood!
His gigs were playing piano at bars and one job arrranging for the Ice Follies--in 90+ degree weather! His reputation as an arranger grew and so RCA took a shot on Bob as an answer to the pop orchestras of the day, but Bob delivered something more adventurous, creative in that idiom.
Space Age Pop LPs
1958-1960
On The Rocks
MMM, Nice!
Just for Kicks
The Sound of Speed
The Sound of Speed (rev.)
Angletown / Carissima Darling 45 RPM
Nobody bought the records so RCA put him to arranging with Rosemary Clooney.
Bobby dear, you are one hell of an arranger.
--Rosemary Clooney
Recording Clap Hands!
At the Copa
Clap Hands! Here Comes Rosie!
Tour Note from Rosie
Recording How the West Was Won with Rosie and Bing, too
Thanks for Nothing
A rare morose mood for Rosie.
He arranged more for RCA and others.
Things got a bit weird sometimes.
 Harmonica Favorites
George Fields
That Agency Thing
Industrial Musical
Songs of Couch & Consultation
Katie Lee
Tales for Young'uns
Dan Blocker
...Conducts Fantastic Percussion
Felix Slatkin
The Fabulous Mae West
Includes "Criswell Predicts" about her Psychic
But is it art?
Bob (center) did the music for about 1,000 commercials from 1959-1980, winning several Clios and other ad industry awards. Goodyear (Go Go Goodyear) was among the longest running and most successful.
The 1990s saw the re-release of Bob Thompson's originals by RCA and the Sound of Speed (Dot Records) was released on vinyl with new liner notes. An album of all originals, the Sound of Style, is now available on iTunes.