Lucky Thompson

For the professional skydiver, see Eli Thompson (skydiver).

Lucky Thompson
Al McKibbon, Lucky Thompson and Hilda A. Taylor at the Three Deuces, New York, 1947. Photo: William P. Gottlieb.
Background information
Birth name	Eli Thompson
Born	June 16, 1924 Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Origin	Detroit, Michigan
Died	July 30, 2005(2005-07-30) (aged 81) Seattle, Washington
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Saxophonist
Instruments	Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Years active	1942–1970s
Associated acts	Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine, Lucky Millinder, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker

Eli "Lucky" Thompson (June 16, 1924 — July 30, 2005) was a United States jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. While John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 1960s, Lucky Thompson, along with Steve Lacy, played it in a more advanced bebop format.

Early life

Thompson was born in Columbia, South Carolina and moved to Detroit, Michigan during his childhood. Thompson had to raise his siblings after his mother died, and he practiced saxophone fingerings on a broom handle before acquiring his first instrument. He joined Erskine Hawkins' band in 1942 upon graduating from high school.

Career

After playing with the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine (alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker), 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, Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Jackson.

Ben Ratliff notes 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." 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 appeared on Charlie Parker's Los Angeles Dial Records sessions and on Miles Davis’s hard bop Walkin' session. Thompson recorded albums as leader for ABC Paramount and Prestige and as a sideman on records for Savoy Records with Milt Jackson as leader.

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

Thompson returned to New York, then lived in Lausanne, Switzerland from 1968 until 1970, 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.

Later life

In his last years he lived in Seattle, Washington. Acquaintances reported that Thompson was homeless by the early 1990s, and lived as a hermit. Thompson died in an assisted living facility on July 30, 2005.

Family

Thompson was married to Thelma Thompson, who died in 1963. Thompson's son, guitarist Daryl Thompson, played with Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru before embarking on a jazz career in the late 1980s. Thompson also had a daughter, Jade Thompson-Fredericks, and two grandchildren.

Discography

• Accent On Tenor Sax (FSR, 1954)
• Tricotism (Impulse, 1956)
• Brown Rose (Xanadu, 1956)
• Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know? (Candid, 1961)
• Lucky Strikes (Prestige/Original Jazz Classics, 1964)
• Happy Days (Prestige, 1965)
• Lucky Meets Tommy, 1965 Rivoli recordings with Tommy Flanagan (Fresh Sound)
• Body & Soul (Nessa, 1970)
• Paris Blue, with Sammy Price (Concord Jazz, 2000)
• Modern Jazz Group (EmArcy, no date/Sunnyside, 2000)
• Jazz in Paris, with Dave Pochonet All Stars (Sunnyside, 2001)
• Home Comin' (2003)

As sideman

With Oscar Pettiford

• O.P. Big Band: Deep Passion (GRP, 1956–57) with Tommy Flanagan, David Amram, Julius Watkins, David Kurtzer, Jerome Richardson, Osie Johnson, Gigi Gryce, Lucky Thompson, Art Farmer, Danny Bank, Jimmy Cleveland, Ernie Royal, Janet Putnam u.a.
• The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi, Vol. 1 (1956) & Vol. 2 (1957) with Tommy Flanagan, David Amram, Ed London, Art Farmer, Gigi Gryce, Betty Glamamm, Jimmy Cleveland, Osie Johnson, Danny Bank, Jerome Richardson, Lucky Thompson, Ernie Royal.

With Milt Jackson

• Meet Milt Jackson (Savoy, 1956)
• Roll 'Em Bags (Savoy, 1956)
• Ballads & Blues (Atlantic, 1956)
• The Jazz Skyline (Savoy, 1956)
• Plenty, Plenty Soul (Atlantic, 1957)

With Thelonious Monk

• Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1952)

With Dinah Washington

• Mellow Mama, 1945 Apollo Records recordings (Delmark, 1992)