Thomas Morgan was born August 14, 1981, in Hayward, California. He began playing cello at seven before switching to upright bass at fourteen, and earned his bachelor's degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music in 2003, studying with Harvie Swartz and Gary Dial. Since moving to New York nearly two decades ago, Morgan has appeared on more than 100 albums, establishing himself as one of the most in-demand bassists in jazz, equally comfortable with vanguard improvisation, modern composition, and swinging post-bop.

Though he has issued no recordings under his own name, he has contributed extensively to projects led by John Abercrombie, Tomasz Stanko, David Binney, Paul Motian, and Masabumi Kikuchi, among many others. Guitarist Bill Frisell has been a particularly regular partner, their duo chemistry captured on 2017's Small Town (recorded live at the Village Vanguard) and 2019's Epistrophy. Morgan has also worked with guitarist Steve Cardenas, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and pianist Kenny Werner.

Morgan's rich tone and steady, inventive rhythmic sense have made him a first-call sideman across the spectrum of contemporary jazz, from Bill Frisell's atmospheric, folk-inflected settings to the more exploratory vanguard-improvisation circles of Paul Motian and Masabumi Kikuchi.