Lucky Thompson - R.I.P.

[Lois Gilbert]

I just wanted to let you all know that the legendary Lucky Thompson passed away on Sat in Seattle. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's for a long time now. He was 81.

Lucky's son, Darryl Thompson (an incredible guitarist in his own right) has requested to please let people know of his father's passing, and if you would like any more information, you can email Darryl at THOMANANDA@MSN.com

You can also post your memories here.

Rest in peace, Lucky

[John L]

RIP. What a beautiful sound he had!

[Lois Gilbert]

Born Eli Thompson, 16 June 1924, Columbia, South Carolina, USA. Thompson's professional career began in the early 40s as a sideman in territory bands. After moving to New York in 1943 he played tenor saxophone in the bands of Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine, Lucky Millinder and in 1944 joined Count Basie. On the west coast he recorded with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, being hired by Gillespie for the famous engagement at Billy Berg's to help make up the numbers when Parker failed to turn up or was late. Indeed, Parker failed to show up for a record session with Ross Russell's Dial label and Thompson sat in. When Parker eventually made a date for Russell, this time with Miles Davis, Thompson was again present. Thompson played briefly with Boyd Raeburn and was also active in the studios.

In 1946 he was a member of the Stars Of Swing, a co-operative band masterminded by Charles Mingus and Buddy Collette and which also featured Britt Woodman and John Anderson. This band lasted less than two months and unfortunately was never recorded. Back in New York at the end of the 40s, Thompson formed his own band and in the early 50s headlined at the Savoy Ballroom. After dabbling briefly in R&B he made several jazz albums with Oscar Pettiford, Milt Jackson and, notably, with Miles Davis on the famous Prestige session for which Davis hired Thompson, J.J. Johnson, Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Art Blakey and which resulted in superb performances of "Walkin'" and "Blue 'N' Boogie". In 1956 he visited Europe, recording prodigiously in France under his own name and also touring with Stan Kenton. Thompson took a liking to Europe and resided there for several years in the late 50s/early 60s and again at the end of the 60s.

Between these two sojourns he played little, preferring life on a small farm in Michigan, and after his latest return from Europe in 1973 he taught for a while before retiring from music. Thompson's playing on tenor and soprano saxophone ably straddles the main strands favoured by musicians of his generation. Although identifiably influenced by Coleman Hawkins and Don Byas, he had absorbed the stylistic departures of Lester Young and Charlie Parker. However, he possessed a fertile imagination and the characteristics of his playing were very much his own; indeed, Thompson proved to be one of the most original and inventive saxophonists working in the post-bebop mainstream and his early retirement was a grievous loss to jazz. His departure from music was prompted by his growing dissatisfaction with the way in which musicians were treated by record companies, club owners, promoters and others in the business. He was especially dismayed by discriminatory practices he encountered from bigoted whites who were in positions of power and could control the careers of black musicians. His own relatively small legacy of recordings is probably not unconnected with the fact that he was never afraid to speak out when he felt injustice was being done.

Source: Encyclopedia of Popular Music

[Steve Reynolds]

RIP

one of the all-time greats - when it comes to soprano saxophone players, he's my all-time favorite - and the sound of his tenor - like no other

I'm glad he and and his family is out of their pain


For Lucky Thompson

[stevebop]

Lucky has always been one of my most favorite saxophonists. Back in 2002 on his birthday I did a 5-hour radio Special. All Lucky, all the time. The playlist is as follows. RIP Lucky:


WGBH, 89.7FM BOSTON

JAZZ FROM STUDIO FOUR

16 JUNE, 2002: LUCKY THOMPSON (6/16/24)

TIME ARTIST SELECTION ALBUM TITLE LABEL & NUMBER

8:06 Lucky Thompson Bo-Bi My Boy Tricotism Impulse
Lucky Thompson Tricotism Tricotism Impulse
Lucky Thompson Plain and Simple Truth Tricotism Impulse
Lucky Thompson Deep Passion Tricotism Impulse
8:30 Lucky Thompson Cherokee Beginning Years IAJRC
Freddie Green I'm In The Mood for Love Smooth Sailing Indigo
Freddie Green Suger Hip Smooth Sailing Indigo
Hot Lips Page Gee Baby Aint I Good Hot Lips 1904-1944 Classics
Lucky Thompson Irresistible You Beginnig Years IAJRC
Lucky Thompson Phace Beginnig Years IAJRC
8:51 Art Blakey Spot Session Compact Jazz Verve
Lucky Thompson In A Sentimental Mood Lucky Strikes Prestige
Lucky Thompson The World Awakes Lucky Sessions Vogue
9:14 Lucky Thompson Where or When Accent on Tenor Urania/Fresh Sounds
King Pleasure Don't Get Scared King Pleasure Sings Prestige
Thelonious Monk Skippy Genius Of Modern Music Blue Note
Milt Jackson How High the Moon Ballads and Blues Atlantic
9:38 Miles Davis Walkin' The Compete Miles Prestige
9:54 Lucky Thompson Boulevard Bounce Complete 44-47 Sessions Jazz Factory
Lucky Thompson Boppin The blues Complete 44-47 Sessions Jazz Factory
10:07 Charlie Parker Moose The Mooche The Complete Dial Sessions Stash
Charlie Parker Yardbird Suite The Complete Dial Sessions Stash
Charlie Parker Ornithology The Complete Dial Sessions Stash
Charlie Parker A Night in Tunisia The Complete Dial Sessions Stash
10:22 Dizzy Gillespie Diggin Diz Modern Trumpets Dial/Spotlite
Dizzy Gillespie Confirmation Modern Trumpets Dial/Spotlite
Dizzy Gillespie Dynamo Modern Trumpets Dial/Spotlite
Charles Mingus Shuffle Bass Boogie West Coast 1945-49 Uptown
Dinah Washington Rich Mans Blues Mellow Mama Delmark
10:42 Lucky Thompson Spoken Introduction Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know Candid
Lucky Thompson Choose One Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know Candid
10:56 Lucky Thompson How About You Lucky In Paris High Note
Lucky Thompson Pennie From Heaven Lucky In Paris High Note
Lucky Thompson Soul Food Lucky In Paris High Note
Lucky Thompson Brother Bob Lucky In Paris High Note
11:20 Sammy Price I Want A Little Girl Paris Blues Universal
Lucky Thompson I Should care Pochonet All Stars Universal
Lucky Thompson The Man I Love Modern Jazz Group Universal
Luvky Thompson Thin Ice Good Luck in Paris Jazz Time
11:41 Oscar Pettiford Not So Sleepy Deep Pasion Impulse
Jimmy Cleveland Hear Ye Hear Ye Introducing Jimmy Cleveland Verve
Quincy Jones Sermonette This Is How I Feel Impulse
John Lewis Little Davids Fugue Modern Jazz Society Verve
12:07 Lucky Thompson Dodo's Bounce Dodo's Bounce Fresh Sounds
Lucky Thompson Dodo's Lament Dodo's Bounce Fresh Sounds
Lucky Thompson Smooth Sailing Dodo's Bounce Fresh Sounds
Lucky Thompson Commercial eyes Dodo's Bounce Fresh Sounds
12:20 Lucky Thompson My Old Flame Lucky Meets Tommy Fresh Sounds
12:28 Lucky Thompson Love and Respect Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know Candid
Lucky Thompson Warm Inside Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know Candid
Lucky Thompson Beautiful Tuesday Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know Candid
Lucky Thompson No More Happy Days Prestige
Lucky Thompson They Didn't Belive Me Happy Days Prestige
12:55 Lucky Thompson Fillet of Soul Tea Time Laserlight

[bostontricky]

This one was an absolute bear to find a couple of years ago, but well worth the search. I was surprised to find out Thompson put together a trio consisting of himself on tenor, Skeeter Best on guitar and Oscar Pettiford on bass and recorded a date in January 1956, months before Jimmy Giuffre formed his trio with Jim Hall and Ralph Pena.

RIP Lucky Thompson.

[wesbound]

One of the best I ever ever heard. RIP, Lucky.

[Chris D]

One of the true unsung heroes. He could burn!

[Rob C]

"Lord, Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know?" is a wonderful record. I always find his spoken word section rather sad, given his subsequent departure from the scene.

RIP.

[Zephyr]

One of the great neglected and underrated heroes of jazz.

RIP 'Lucky' Thompson.

[Boris Badenov]

What a shame. Let's not forget his stellar contributions on this, as well:

[Valerie]

one of the true greats who was silenced much too long ago.


rip, mr. lucky thompson.

[mikeweil]

Originally Posted by Doc Martin

RIP Lucky Thompson

I'm afraid this depicts the wrong person - this is how Lucky Thompson looked on one of his last albums from ca. 1974:

[mikeweil]

One of the true giants and most individual stylists of the tenor saxophone has passed, one of my top favourites. I'm speechless.
R.I.P. Mr. Thompson



(Photo ca. 1961)

[Felix]

Now listening to this:



Superb. Thank you Mr. Thompson.

[stevebop]

Lucky may have been off the scene for long periods of time but he sure was prolific. Have a look at part of his voluminous discography:

http://www.attictoys.com/jazz/LT_intro.html


Steve Schwartz
Jazz from Studio Four
Friday, 8p-midnight
WGBH, 89.7FM, Boston
www.wgbh.org

[Ron Thorne]

Sure wish there was a way to slow down the losses of jazz giants. It's an enevitable but painful process.

Another true original is gone. Thanks for the many recordings left behind to enjoy and marvel at.

R.I.P., Lucky Thompson~

[Dr Dave]

Lucky was gone a long time ago. If ever there was an undeserved nickname, he had it. Fortunately, as described above, he was recorded pretty often in his heyday, and mostly in excellent company. One of the great pre-Coltrane masters of the soprano. Such a beautiful tone.

[Lazaro Vega]

The machinations of a commerce driven, aesthetically bereft music “industry” notwithstanding, Lucky Thompson managed to reach an appreciative audience.

As Steve’s post reveals, and as many, many radio programs dedicated to Thompson over the years on real jazz stations the world over attest to, there were those in the media who rang his bell. Loudly.

“Just One More Chance” stands the test of all time for beauty with such musical superiority Thompson’s recording can be mentioned without hesitation in the same breath as Hawkin’s “Body and Soul.” Thompson was that real.

His bandstand association with Dodo Marmarosa and their recordings in the 1940’s set such an example for musical expression on a high technical level while maintaining an honest humanity that they should be required listening for every school educated saxophonist today.

His recordings with Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk are some of the best from both bandleaders; and while his “Walkin’” solo with Miles Davis is rightfully regarded as a high water mark in an incredible musical career, let’s not forget “Blue N Boogie” from the same session, or his revisiting that classic Dizzy Gillespie number in 1970 with Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu.

It was heartening in the early 2000’s to see guitarist Anthony Wilson recording some of Thompson’s compositions (“The Parisian Knight”), acknowledging that strong aspect of this heavy, heavy soul.

God Bless Mr. Thompson: may your soul find the peace and prosperity it longed for in this often indifferent place.

[Lois Gilbert]

Lucky Thompson, Jazz Saxophonist, Is Dead at 81
By BEN RATLIFF
Lucky Thompson, a legendary tenor and soprano saxophonist who took his place among the elite improvisers of jazz from the 1940's to the 1960's and then quit music, roamed the country and ended up homeless or hospitalized for more than a decade, died on Saturday in Seattle. He was 81.

His death was confirmed by his son, Daryl Thompson; the cause was not announced. Mr. Thompson was living in an assisted-care facility at the Washington Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation in Seattle.

Mr. 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. He also played the soprano saxophone authoritatively.

"Lucky had that same thing that Paul Gonsalves had, that melodic smoothness," one of his contemporaries, the saxophonist Johnny Griffin, said in an interview. "He wasn't rough like Ben Webster, and he didn't play in the Lester Young style. He was a beautiful balladeer. But he played with all the modernists."

Mr. Thompson was born Eli Thompson in Columbia, S.C., on June 16, 1924, and moved to Detroit with his family as a child. After graduating from high school in 1942, he played with Erskine Hawkins's band, then called the 'Bama State Collegians; the next year he moved to New York as a member of Lionel Hampton's big band.

After six months with Hampton, while still very young, he swiftly ascended the ranks of hip. He played in Billy Eckstine's short-lived big band, one of the first to play bebop, which also included Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1944.

In 1945 he left Basie in Los Angeles, and in 1945 and 1946 he played on, and probably created arrangements for, record dates for the Exclusive label, including those by the black cowboy star and former Ellington singer Herb Jeffries. When the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie sextet came through Los Angeles, Mr. Thompson was hired by Gillespie as a temporary replacement for Parker. Mr. Thompson was also on one of Parker's most celebrated recording sessions, for Dial Records on March 28, 1946.

Fiercely intelligent, Mr. Thompson was outspoken in his feelings about what he considered the unfair control of the jazz business by record companies, music publishers and booking agents. Partly for these reasons, he left the United States to live in Paris from 1957 to 1962, making a number of recordings with groups including the pianist Martial Solal. After returning to New York for a few years, he lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, from late 1968 to 1970. He came back to New York again, taught at Dartmouth in 1973 and 1974, then disappeared from the Northeast, and soon from music entirely.

Friends say he lived for a time on Manitoulin Island in Ontario and in Georgia before eventually moving west. By the early 90's he was in Seattle, mostly living in the woods or in shelter offered by friends. He did not own a saxophone. He walked long distances, and was reported to have been in excellent, muscular shape.

He was hospitalized a number of times in 1994, and finally entered the Washington Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation.

His skepticism about the jazz business may have kept him from a career recording as a bandleader - "Tricotism," from 1956, and "Lucky Strikes," from 1964, are among the few albums he made under his own name - but he left behind a pile of imposing performances as a sideman. Among them are recordings with Dinah Washington in 1945, Thelonious Monk in 1952, Miles Davis in 1954 (the "Walkin' " session, a watershed in Davis's career), and Oscar Pettiford and Stan Kenton in 1956. His final recordings were made in 1973.

In addition to his son, Daryl, of Stone Mountain, Ga., Mr. Thompson is survived by a daughter, Jade Thompson-Fredericks of New Jersey; and two grandchildren.

Part of Mr. Thompson's legend came from the fact that he was rarely seen in public; at times it was hard for his old friends to find him. But the drummer Kenny Washington remembered Mr. Thompson's showing up when Mr. Washington was performing with Johnny Griffin's group at Jazz Alley in Seattle in 1993. Mr. Thompson listened, conversed with the musicians, and then departed on foot for the place where he was staying - in a wooded spot in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, more than three miles away.

[stevebop]

This is in Friday's 'The Independent'.

Steve Voce



LUCKY THOMPSON

"Lucky Thompson was a perfectionist almost to the point of mania,"
remembered Ronnie Scott of the time Thompson played at his club in June
1962.

"Between sets," continued Scott, "he'd clean his instruments out and pack
them away, and when it was time to go on you'd have to allow ten or 15
minutes for him to get them out again and clean them up and get them ready.
Like those people who wash their hands 35 times a day, I suppose."

By mixing elements of the playing of tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins,
Lester Young and Don Byas with a considerable helping of his own style
Thompson became one of the great players of the instrument. He fell between
the swing players and the Bebop musicians in terms of style, but by the
Fifties had adjusted his playing so that it sat happily at his best with
Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk or Milt Jackson.

Thompson was always difficult, an awkward eccentric and, sometimes with
good reason, a constant complainer. He didn't like the rhythm section
provided by the Scott Club and wrote an open letter published in the "Melody
Maker".

"I've just done the best that's possible in the circumstances. If that's
any consolation. It seems to me the main difficulty lies in the fact that
there are vast differences of conception in the rhythm section itself. This
makes it impossible to establish the kind of impulse to which I could
respond fully."

Stan Tracey was the pianist in that rhythm section.

"Socially, musically, Lucky Thompson and Don Byas were the hardest to
accompany. Just plain horrible vibrations. Used to put us down in the
music - all sorts of nasty little messages flying about in the music. My
nerves were all nicely bared and raw and so I used to take the piss out of
them in the music."

Throughout his career Thompson used the term "vultures" to describe those
who he saw as preying on musicians to exploit them. He battled them
ceaselessly and formally announced in "Downbeat" in 1966 and, it must be
said, on many other occasions, that he was retiring from what he called the
business side of jazz.

When Thompson's mother died when he was five he had to help bring up his
younger siblings. At one stage his father bought him a jersey with the word
"Lucky" across the chest. He didn't realise that he was setting his son's
nickname for life. Given what was to follow, it was hardly an appropriate
choice.

Fascinated by and absorbed in music, the boy had no hope of affording a
saxophone.

"I ran errands and got myself enough money to buy a saxophone book. It had
a picture of a real saxophone to use as a fingering chart. I chopped the
bristles off a broom and carved the main lines of a saxophone into it. I
carved the keys into it, too. It's from that broom handle and that book that
I got my fingering on the saxophone."

Thompson finally acquired a saxophone when one was accidentally delivered
to his home with some furniture. He had already taught himself to read
music.

Working first as a barber, he began his career in the early Forties
working first with territory bands including nine months with the 'Bama
State Collegians.

"I came to New York in 1943 with Lionel Hampton's band. Shortly after I
arrived found myself replacing Ben Webster at The Three Deuces. The first
night I was to play who was in the house but Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas,
Lester Young and Ben Webster, all of them there at the same time." Art Tatum
was also in the audience.

"I never played so horrible in my life. I don't know how I survived,
believe me, because for the first time I found my fingers in between the
keys."

He worked in the New York clubs with bassist Slam Stewart's Quartet that
included Erroll Garner and Thompson's particular friend the drummer Big Sid
Catlett.

Thompson went out on the road again with Hampton, but left after six
months to join the band led by singer Billy Eckstine. This band was the
embryo of Bebop, including as it did Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Dizzy
Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. He left in November 1944 for a year with Count
Basie. Settling in Los Angeles at the end of 1945 her soon found work as a
studio musician and as a sideman in the jazz groups led by Boyd Raeburn,
Slim Gaillard, Jimmy Mundy and Dodo Marmarosa. When Parker and Gillespie
visited Los Angeles he played and recorded with them.

He came to Europe to play at the Nice Jazz Festival in 1948, by which time
he had returned to live in New York. He led a band of his own at the Savoy
Ballroom, worked with Thelonious Monk and was one of the musicians on the
seminal Miles Davis recording session in 1954 that produced "Walkin'". He
made further outstanding albums with Milt Jackson and Jo Jones.

"I fought against being a stereotype. So they wrote about me as the
musician 'without school, without stereotype.'

"It cost me a career. This profession was indifferent to an honest man. In
fact I never had a career, but I fought for a few moments here and there."

To escape the vultures he moved to Paris in February 1956 and in April
that year joined the Stan Kenton band which was touring France and short of
a baritone sax player.

"I picked up a baritone sax right off the stage. Never had played one, but
I had to play it in the band straight after picking it up for the first
time."

Thompson returned to the States with Kenton but was blacklisted by Joe
Glaser, Louis Armstrong's manager, after a pointless row in a flight over
whether Armstrong should leave the plane first when it landed. Starved of
work, he made another fine album with Milt Jackson and then in 1958 he
bought a farm in Michigan where he lived with his wife and two children.

Leaving them, he went back to France where he stayed until 1962, never
short of work, and at this period he became one of the first modern
musicians to take up the soprano saxophone. He played frequently with
another maverick musician, the bassist Oscar Pettiford and with the
remarkable pianist Martial Solal, achieving great things with both of them.
He went back to the farm from France in 1962 and his wife Thelma died
shortly afterwards. He drifted away from music until, in 1968, he returned
to France and toured widely across Europe until going back to the US in the
early Seventies.

In 1973-4 he taught briefly at Dartmouth College and at Yale University,
after which he retired once more from music.

He stayed briefly in Canada before moving to Savannah, Georgia. Here he
gave his instruments to a dentist in exchange for dental work. He moved on
to Atlanta, where he was badly beaten up, and then to Denver, to Oregon and
in the late Eighties to Seattle. He became a homeless recluse in the city
until in 1994 he was taken into the Columbia City Assisted Living home.


Steve Voce

Eli "Lucky" Thompson, tenor saxophonist, born Columbia, South Carolina 16
June 1924; married (two children, wife deceased); died Seattle, 30 July
2005.





------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Pete C]

I don't know how long it's been going but wkcr has a memorial broadcast going on now.

www.wkcr.org

[Elliot]

From yesterday's L.A. Times:

Lucky Thompson, 81; Jazz Musician Bridged Swing and Bebop
By Jon Thurber
Times Staff Writer

August 8, 2005

Lucky Thompson, an influential but enigmatic figure in jazz who bridged the music's swing and bebop styles, has died. He was 81.

Thompson died July 30 at an assisted living facility in Seattle. The cause of death was not announced.

An independent figure even by jazz standards, Thompson had a quick rise, compiling an impressive resume that included stints with Billy Eckstine and Count Basie before his 21st birthday. By the mid-1950s, he had made significant recordings as a sideman with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, and was considered by many to be without peer on the tenor saxophone.

But less than 20 years later, he quit playing. He handed over his instruments to a dentist in Georgia to pay his bill.

Born Eli Thompson in Columbia, S.C., on June 16, 1924, Thompson was raised in Detroit and started playing saxophone at the age of 15. Initially, he played with local groups led by pianist Hank Jones and saxophonist Sonny Stitt. He first started gaining attention in the Basie band near the end of World War II, when he replaced saxophonist Don Byas, who was a big influence on him.

In the mid-1940s, Thompson lived in Southern California and was a busy studio musician, playing on an estimated 100 recordings in 1946 and 1947. When Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were visiting L.A. with their sextet to perform and record, Gillespie hired Thompson as insurance in case the brilliant but notoriously unreliable Parker failed to show. Gillespie used both players on the Dial Records date in March 1946.

By 1948, Thompson had moved to New York City, where he remained busy doing studio work, and made some fine recordings with bassist Oscar Pettiford and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. He can also be heard on Miles Davis' "Walkin' " sessions — working as part of the all-star band that Davis hired for the Prestige recording session.

Thompson moved to Paris in February 1956 and joined the touring Stan Kenton orchestra. He stayed mostly abroad until 1962, performing with some of Europe's players, including pianists Matial Solal and Tete Montoliu. He also took up the soprano saxophone, an underused instrument at the time.

Through much of the '60s and early '70s, he moved back and forth between the U.S. and Europe. He produced some of his most interesting recordings in the United States during the early '60s, but he also had long periods of inactivity.

By 1973, he had returned from Europe for good and began teaching, first at Dartmouth and then at Yale. It was at that point that he quit playing, embittered by the high fees that music promoters, record companies and music publishers were taking.

Over the years, he did make several recordings as a leader, including "Lucky Strikes" in 1964 and "Happy Days," recorded the next year.

While Thompson dropped from public view, various reports said he was homeless. He hopscotched around the country and settled in Seattle in the late 1980s. In August 1994, he entered an assisted living facility.

He is survived by a son, a daughter and two grandchildren.