Lucky Thompson, RIP

Michael Glynn · #1 08-06-2005, 10:36 AM

The great tenor and soprano saxophonist Lucky Thompson passed away last week in Seattle.

He was one of my all time favorites, and I'm sure many others in the TBDB world appreciated his great work with Oscar Pettiford and many others.

Lucky Thompson obituary

Paul Warburton · #2 08-06-2005, 05:05 PM

Michael, thanks for the post. I loved the stuff he did with O.P.! 'Happy Little Sunbeam' was one of my favorites.
Can't remember if Oscar or Lucky wrote it...probably O.P.
I love the unison stuff they did together. The way that O.P. switched octaves was so beautiful.
I didn't know about all the crap Lucky went through. Sad.
Did I ever tell you that I knew or at least met Buddy Catlett when he was living in Denver? Great player!

Aaron Saunders · #3 08-06-2005, 06:23 PM

Lucky? Didn't he play with Mingus, waaaaay back?

Damn. I'd love to hear the stuff he did with OP, I've always wondered how Oscar would play when beside a horn.

matador · #4 08-07-2005, 06:17 AM

RIP Lucky Thompson...

Another beautiful player has left us.

Michael Glynn · #5 08-08-2005, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Michael, thanks for the post. I loved the stuff he did with O.P.! 'Happy Little Sunbeam' was one of my favorites.
Can't remember if Oscar or Lucky wrote it...probably O.P.
I love the unison stuff they did together. The way that O.P. switched octaves was so beautiful.
I didn't know about all the crap Lucky went through. Sad.

All that OP/Lucky stuff is great. I have a sax player friend that is a huge Lucky fan, so we play a bunch of those tunes: OP meets LT, The Plain But the Simple Truth, Tricotism (of course), etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Did I ever tell you that I knew or at least met Buddy Catlett when he was living in Denver? Great player!

Yeah, I think we talked about Buddy once before. Let me know if you have any funny old stories. I'd love to freak him out with stories from his past. Do you know Phil Sparks? There's another great bass player in Seattle who spent time in Colorado. I think you're scaring them all out of town, Paul!

Don Higdon · #6 08-08-2005, 01:13 PM

My favorite soprano player. I'll never understand why he was so unrecognized. On the other hand, he could be his own worst enemy, thankless and irresponsible to people who tried their best to give him opportunity (e.g. Amos Kaune, owner of Gulliver's).
Great sound, great ideas, swing. His playing made the jazz world a better place.

Paul Warburton · #7 08-08-2005, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Glynn

All that OP/Lucky stuff is great. I have a sax player friend that is a huge Lucky fan, so we play a bunch of those tunes: OP meets LT, The Plain But the Simple Truth, Tricotism (of course), etc.

Yeah, I think we talked about Buddy once before. Let me know if you have any funny old stories. I'd love to freak him out with stories from his past. Do you know Phil Sparks? There's another great bass player in Seattle who spent time in Colorado. I think you're scaring them all out of town, Paul!

I sold Phil Sparks my Jacobus Hornsteiner After an accident. It didn't come out of surgery sounding the way i'd hoped. It was perfect for Phil though. Please say hi....
sorry about the O.T. people....

Ed Fuqua · #8 08-13-2005, 09:04 AM

I got to meet Lucky on St. Simon's Island back in about '76 when I was stupid and couldn't hear anything. I didn't even know who I was being introduced to. It's a moment that I wish I could go back to now, a regrettably missed opportunity.

We were hanging out with the guys form the club we were working and they said that Lucky still played a little, that he would take his horn out to the end of the pier and blow...

Paul Warburton · #9 08-13-2005, 04:13 PM

[quote=Ed Fuqua]I got to meet Lucky on St. Simon's Island back in about '76 when I was stupid and couldn't hear anything. I didn't even know who I was being introduced to. It's a moment that I wish I could go back to now, a regrettably missed opportunity.
QUOTE]
I hate those. My most regrettable was in Europe once. I pushed the down button for the elevator. The doors opened and there stood Gil Evans. I couldn't say anything. What was I supposed to say? I remember making love one night while having Sketches of Spain on in the background. Or: "I really liked the way you wrote those bass/tuba lines on the Porgy and Bess record. Everything I thought of to say just sounded anemic.
Some times it's too big to say anything.

Marcus Johnson · #10 08-13-2005, 08:22 PM

I literally bumped into Dizzy Gillespie once, at the Maui Prince hotel. I was in a quintet that was opening that evening for his show. He looked really cool; dashiki, funky hat, the works. I remember stammering out a bunch of nonsense, how much his music meant to me, blah blah, while he just stood there smiling and listening to my drivel. When I finally shut up, he said...."Where's the food?". I just laughed and escorted him to the restaurant. Fortunately, I was able to redeem myself somewhat, at a postgig party, where I blathered a bit less. I do remember the bassist, John Lee, saying "You better get back to your wife, before I start hittin' on her".