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Lucky Thompson

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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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early lifeEdit

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">{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7680{{ 

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}}</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>

CareerEdit

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 lifeEdit

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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

FamilyEdit

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" />

DiscographyEdit

As leader/co-leaderEdit

As sidemanEdit

With Louis Armstrong

With Harry Arnold

  • Guest Book (Metronome, 1961)

With Art Blakey

With Benny Carter

  • A Man Called Adam (Reprise, 1965)

With Kenny Clarke

  • Kenny Clarke Plays Pierre Michelot (Columbia, 1957)

With Jimmy Cleveland

With Johnny Dankworth

  • The Zodiac Variations (Fontana, 1964)

With Miles Davis

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Milt Jackson

With Quincy Jones

With Stan Kenton

With John Lewis

With Thelonious Monk

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> With Oscar Pettiford

With Ralph Sharon

  • Around the World in Jazz (Rama, 1957)

With Martial Solal

  • Martial Solal et Son Grand Orchestre (Swing, 1957)

With Dinah Washington

Sources:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist Template:Lucky Thompson Template:Authority control

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