Lucky Thompson

Template:Short description Template:Infobox musical artist

Eli "Lucky" Thompson (June 16, 1924 – July 30, 2005)<ref name="ratliff">Template:Cite news</ref> was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist whose playing combined elements of swing and bebop.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 1960s, Thompson (along with Steve Lacy) embraced the instrument earlier than Coltrane.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Thompson was born in Columbia, South Carolina and moved to Detroit, Michigan during his childhood.<ref name="ratliff" /><ref name="hsu">Template:Cite news</ref> Thompson had to raise his siblings after his mother died, and he practiced saxophone fingerings on a broom handle before acquiring his first instrument.<ref name="allmusic">Template:AllMusic</ref><ref name="penguin">Template:Cite book</ref> He joined Erskine Hawkins' band in 1942 upon graduating from Cass Technical High School.<ref name="ratliff" /><ref name="porter">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Career

After playing with the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton,<ref name="ratliff" /> Don Redman, Billy Eckstine (alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker),<ref name="ratliff" /> Lucky Millinder, and Count Basie, he worked in rhythm and blues and then established a career in bebop and hard bop, working with Kenny Clarke, Miles Davis, Gillespie and Milt Jackson.

Ben Ratliff observed that Thompson "connected the swing era to the more cerebral and complex bebop style. His sophisticated, harmonically abstract approach to the tenor saxophone built off that of Don Byas and Coleman Hawkins; he played with beboppers, but resisted Charlie Parker's pervasive influence."<ref name="ratliff" /> He showed these capabilities as sideman on many albums recorded during the mid-1950s, such as Stan Kenton's Cuban Fire!, and those under his own name. He recorded with Parker (on two Los Angeles Dial Records sessions) and on Miles Davis's hard bop Walkin' session.<ref name="ratliff" /><ref name="hsu" /> Thompson recorded albums as leader for Disques Vogue (in Paris), ABC Paramount and Prestige and as a sideman on records for Savoy Records with Jackson as leader.

Thompson was strongly critical of the music business,<ref name="ratliff" /> later describing promoters, music producers and record companies as "parasites" or "vultures".<ref name="hsu" /> This, in part, led him to move to Paris, where he lived and made several recordings between 1957 and 1962.<ref name="ratliff" /> During this time, he began playing soprano saxophone.<ref name="hsu" />

Thompson returned to New York, then lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 1968 until 1970,<ref name="ratliff" /> and recorded several albums there including A Lucky Songbook in Europe. He taught at Dartmouth College in 1973 and 1974, then completely left the music business.<ref name="ratliff" />

Later life

Thompson's whereabouts after the mid-1970s are unclear; he is believed to have lived briefly on Manitoulin Island in Canada and in Savannah, Georgia.<ref name="ratliff"/>

In his last years, he lived in Seattle, Washington.<ref name="ratliff" /><ref name="hsu" /> Acquaintances reported that Thompson was homeless by the early 1990s, and lived as a hermit.<ref name="ratliff" /><ref name="hsu" />

Thompson died from Alzheimer's disease in an assisted living facility on July 30, 2005.<ref name="ratliff" /><ref name="hsu" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Family

Thompson was married to Thelma Thompson, who died in 1963.<ref name="jetv24no17">Template:Cite journal</ref> Thompson's son, guitarist Daryl Thompson, played with Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru before embarking on a jazz career in the late 1980s.<ref name="jetv76no25">Template:Cite journal</ref> Thompson also had a daughter, Jade Thompson-Fredericks, and two grandchildren.<ref name="ratliff" />

Discography

As leader/co-leader

1944-46 Lucky Start ()
1944-47 The Chronological (Classics, ?)
1954 Lucky Thompson & his Lucky Seven (MCA, ?)
1954 Accent On Tenor Saxophone (Urania, 1954) reissued by Fresh Sound
1956 Lucky Thompson Featuring Oscar Pettiford Vol. 1 (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
1956-60 The Complete Vogue Recordings Vol.1 & 2 (BMG, 1998) The recordings made in France for the Vogue label
1956-59 Complete Parisian Small Group Sessions 1956-1959 (4xCD) (Fresh Sound. 2017)
1956 In Paris 1956: The All Star Orchestra Sessions (Frech Sound, 2017)
1956 Thompson plays for Thompson (Jazztime, ?)
1956 Modern Jazz Group (Le Club Français Du Disque, 1957) reissued reissued by (Gitanes/Universal, 2000) in the Jazz In Paris collection, by EmArcy, no date<ref name="penguin" /> and (Sunnyside, 2000)
1956 Lucky Thompson (Swing, ?) reissued with the same title (Inner City Jazz Legacy, 1980)
1956 Brown Rose (Xanadu, 1956) originally titled L T, Vol. 2 with Gérard Pochonet All Stars (Swing, ?)
1956 Club Session n.IV (Le Club Français Du Disque, 1957) with Dave Pochonet All Stars - reissued by (Gitanes/Universal, 2001) in the Jazz In Paris collection and by (Sunnyside, 2001)
1956 Lucky Thompson Featuring Oscar Pettiford Vol. 2 (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
1957 Paris Blues (Gitanes/Universal, 2000) (Concord Jazz, 2000) . Originally titled Sammy Price avec Lycky Thompson (Polydor, 1957)
1959 Lucky in Paris (Symphonium, ?)
1961 Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know? (Candid, 1961)
1963 Plays Jerome Kern and No More (Moodsville, 1963)
1964 Lucky Strikes (Prestige, 1964)
1965 Plays Happy Days Are Here Again (Prestige, 1965)
1965 Lucky is Back! (Rivoli, 1965)
1966 Kinfolks Corner (Rivoli, 1966)
1969 A Lucky Songbook in Europe (MPS, 1969)
1971 Soul's Nite Out (Ensayo, 1971)
1972 Goodbye Yesterday (Groove Merchant, 1973)
1972 Concert: Friday the 13th - Cook County Jail (Groove Merchant, 1973) - split album with Jimmy McGriff
1973 I Offer You (Groove Merchant, 1973)
1973 Back to the World (51 West, 1979)
1972-73 Lucky Thompson: Sonny Lester Collection (LRC, 1991) reissued as Home CominTemplate:' (2003). Compilation of tracks from Goodbye Yesterday! and Back To The World