The Seventh Son was originally release in 1980 and became a true Jazz holy grail. Malachi Thompson moved to Chicago as a child and credited his interest in the trumpet when he was 11 years old. Malachi worked in the rhythm and blues scene on Chicago's South Side as a teen. In 1968, he joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), spending some time in the AACM big band. Thompson worked with saxophonists Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, Frank Foster, and Archie Shepp among other musicians while living in New York City. He formed his Freebop band in 1978, and eventually relocated to Washington, D.C. Thompson also worked with Lester Bowie's Hot Trumpets Repertory Company and formed Africa Brass, a group inspired by traditional New Orleans brass bands