Lucky Thompson - Night Life '2019

Tracks list

Born in Columbia, SC, on June 16, 1924, tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson bridged
the gap between the physical dynamism of swing and the cerebral intricacies of
bebop, emerging as one of his instruments foremost practitioners and a stylist
par excellence. Eli Thompsons lifelong nickname -- the byproduct of a jersey,
given him by his father, with the word lucky stitched across the chest -- would
prove bitterly inappropriate: when he was five, his mother died, and the
remainder of his childhood, spent largely in Detroit, was devoted to helping
raise his younger siblings. Thompson loved music, but without hope of acquiring
an instrument of his own, he ran errands to earn enough money to purchase an
instructional book on the saxophone, complete with fingering chart. He then
carved imitation lines and keys into a broom handle, teaching himself to read
music years before he ever played an actual sax. According to legend, Thompson
finally received his own saxophone by accident -- a delivery company mistakenly
dropped one off at his home along with some furniture, and after graduating high
school and working briefly as a barber, he signed on with Erskine Hawkins Bama
State Collegians, touring with the group until 1943, when he joined Lionel
Hampton and settled in New York City. Soon after his arrival in the Big Apple,
Thompson was tapped to replace Ben Webster during his regular gig at the 52nd
Street club the Three Deuces -- Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Art
Tatum were all in attendance at Thompsons debut gig, and while he deemed the
performance a disaster (a notorious perfectionist, he was rarely if ever pleased
with his work), he nevertheless quickly earned the respect of his peers and
became a club fixture. After a stint with bassist Slam Stewart, Thompson again
toured with Hampton before joining singer Billy Eckstines short-lived big band
that included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey -- in other words,
the crucible of bebop. But although he played on some of the earliest and most
influential bop dates, Thompson never fit squarely within the movements paradigm
-- his playing boasted an elegance and formal power all his own, with an
emotional depth rare among the tenor greats of his generation. He joined the
Count Basie Orchestra in late 1944, exiting the following year while in Los
Angeles and remaining there until 1946, in the interim playing on and arranging
a series of dates for the Exclusive label. Thompson returned to the road when
Gillespie hired him to replace Parker in their epochal combo -- he also played
on Parkers landmark March 28, 1946, session for Dial, and that same year was a
member of the Charles Mingus and Buddy Collette-led Stars of Swing which, sadly,
never recorded. Thompson returned to New York in 1947, leading his own band at
the famed Savoy Ballroom. The following year, he made his European debut at the
Nice Jazz Festival, and went on to feature on sessions headlined by Thelonious
Monk and Miles Davis (the seminal Walkin). Backed by a group dubbed the Lucky
Seven that included trumpeter Harold Johnson and altoist Jimmy Powell, Thompson
cut his first studio session as a leader on August 14, 1953, returning the
following March 2. For the most part he remained a sideman for the duration of
his career, however, enjoying a particularly fruitful collaboration with Milt
Jackson that yielded several LPs during the mid-50s. But many musicians, not to
mention industry executives, found Thompson difficult to deal with -- he was
notoriously outspoken about what he considered the unfair power wielded over the
jazz business by record labels, music publishers, and booking agents, and in
February 1956 he sought to escape these vultures by relocating his family to
Paris. Two months later he joined Stan Kentons French tour, even returning to
the U.S. with Kentons group, but he soon found himself blacklisted by Louis
Armstrongs manager, Joe Glaser, after a bizarre conflict with the beloved jazz
pioneer over which musician should be the first to leave their plane after
landing. Without steady work, he returned to Paris, cutting several sessions
with producer Eddie Barclay. Thompson remained in France until 1962, returning
to New York and a year later headlining the Prestige LP Plays Jerome Kern and No
More, which featured pianist Hank Jones. Around this same time his wife died,
and in addition to struggling to raise their children on his own, Thompsons old
battles with the jazz power structure also remained, and in 1966 he formally
announced his retirement in the pages of Down Beat magazine. Within a few months
he returned to active duty, but remained frustrated with the industry and his
own ability -- during the March 20, 1968, date captured on the Candid CD Lord,
Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know?, he says I feel I have only scratched the surface of
what I know I am capable of doing. From late 1968 to 1970, Thompson lived in
Lausanne, Switzerland, touring widely across Europe before returning the U.S.,
where he taught music at Dartmouth University and in 1973 led his final
recording, I Offer You. The remaining decades of Thompsons life are in large
part a mystery -- he spent several years living on Ontarios Manitoulin Island
before relocating to Savannah, GA, trading his saxophones in exchange for dental
work. He eventually migrated to the Pacific Northwest, and after a long period
of homelessness checked into Seattles Columbia City Assisted Living Center in
1994. Thompson remained in assisted care until his death on July 30, 2005. ~
Jason Ankeny

Tracklist:
01. Lucky Thompson - I Want a Little Girl (3:40)
02. Lucky Thompson - Youve Changed (6:58)
03. Lucky Thompson - Minor Blues (4:21)
04. Lucky Thompson - One OClock Jump (8:44)
05. Lucky Thompson - How Long, How Long Blues (4:23)
06. Lucky Thompson - Cherokee (8:21)
07. Lucky Thompson - Up Above My Head (2:55)
08. Lucky Thompson - Yesterdays (7:17)
09. Lucky Thompson - Lucky T (4:49)
10. Lucky Thompson - Strike up the Band (7:51)
11. Lucky Thompson - Satin Doll (11:13)
12. Lucky Thompson - Embassy Boogie (3:14)
13. Lucky Thompson - Paris Blues (7:19)
14. Lucky Thompson - Stompin at the Savoy (12:49)
15. Lucky Thompson - Sweet Georgia Brown (5:07)
16. Lucky Thompson - Lester Leaps In (2:51)

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