From Kate Bush to Pentangle to T-Rex, the late Danny Thompson’s musical brilliance knew no bounds

The bassist, who has died aged 86, was an extraordinary and wildly versatile presence in British music, bringing his personality into everything he played

Who was Danny Thompson? Was he the man who brought jazz to British folk as a founder of Pentangle, as a collaborator with John Martyn, with Nick Drake, with June Tabor, the Incredible String Band and more? Was he the bringer of class to the mainstream, recording with Cliff Richard, Johnny Hates Jazz, Rod Stewart, T-Rex and others? Was he the elder adding gravitas to the recordings of younger pop experimentalists and formalists: ABC, Everything But the Girl, Graham Coxon, the The, David Sylvian, Kate Bush and Talk Talk?

Danny Thompson was all of those things because he was always Danny Thompson. Artists worked with him not so they could have someone hold down a root note in 4/4 on an electric bass; they hired him to be Danny Thompson. And Danny Thompson was extraordinary: a man who played the upright double bass as if it were a lead instrument, who may have been an accompanist but who was never a sideman. Whoever he played with and whatever he was playing, he sounded like himself.