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Lucky Thompson


Brownian Motion

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Lucky recorded as a sideman on the early "third stream" effort by John Lewis and Gunther

Schuller titled "The Modern Jazz Ensemble Presents a Program of Contemporary Music",

which was reissued by Verve.

Lucky plays magnificently on the cuts on which he appears, as do the other musicians

involved: Stan Getz, Aaron Sachs, J. J. Johnson, Tony Scott. This session is OOP; grab

it if you see it.

Edited by Brownian Motion
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One comment on the Paris sessions: the Xanadu disc (Brown Rose) doubles material which is available in the Jazz in Paris series (at better price and maybe also in better sound)

Great sessions.

My favorites are Tricotism and Lucky Strikes. And the Walkin' session with Miles.

Love his sound!

ubu

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Actually, the Xanadu disc duplicates Vogue material, not anything in the Jazz In Paris series.

Sorry, Chuck! I messed up this one, having both Jazz in Paris volumes as well as the two Vogues.

Anyway, just wanted possible buyers to be aware of this, because a few months ago I happiliy walked out a record store with the Xanadu in my bag and I payed some 25US$ for it, so in the end I resumed being that happy about it...

ubu

Edited by king ubu
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  • 1 year later...

His recordings 1943 - 1950 have been covered in an excellent discography by Dieter Salemann, available online from Norbert Ruecker's mailorder shop:

(link) - go to catalog, name discographies and scroll down the page to the Roots of Modern jazz series.

There is an excellent discography of Lucky's works after 1950 on Noal Cohen's website.

Edited by mikeweil
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  • 2 years later...

Finally managed to view the 1961 film 'Aimez-Vous Brahms' (Goodbye Again) directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Ingrid Bergman, Yves Montand and Anthony Perkins. Heard there was a club scene that had Lucky Thompson playing in a short sequence.

The first hour went did not carry much interest. Except for good acting by la Bergman as a 40-year old unmarried woman and Anthony Perkins as a young fortune heir plus Yves Montand at some of his worst!

But then there is indeed a scene in a Paris nightclub that opens with a full view of Kenny Clarke at the drums then the camera pans back and Lucky Thompson is also on stage playing tenor. Pierre Michelot is along on bass and Maurice Vander on piano. The sequence is really damn short with Diannah Carroll performing the movie title song, not by Brahms but by Georges Auric.

Looks like the scene was filmed at the long gone La Calavados club off the Champs-Elysees. Pianist Joe Turner played there every night for years but he does not appear in the film.

There was a soundtrack album released of Auric's music but from what I understand Diannah Carroll sang a version of 'Goodbye Again' to the accompaniment of Ferrante and Teicher :(

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There's a brilliant and shrewdly titled 20-page essay on Thompson -- "When Backward Comes Out Ahead: Lucky Thompson's Phrasing and Improvisation" -- by Tad Shull (himself a talented tenor saxophonist) in the "Annual Review of Jazz Studies 12, 2002 (Scarecrow Press).

Agree, great title. As a huge Lucky Thompson fan, I'll have to track that essay down.

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Finally managed to view the 1961 film 'Aimez-Vous Brahms' (Goodbye Again) directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Ingrid Bergman, Yves Montand and Anthony Perkins. Heard there was a club scene that had Lucky Thompson playing in a short sequence.

The first hour went did not carry much interest. Except for good acting by la Bergman as a 40-year old unmarried woman and Anthony Perkins as a young fortune heir plus Yves Montand at some of his worst!

But then there is indeed a scene in a Paris nightclub that opens with a full view of Kenny Clarke at the drums then the camera pans back and Lucky Thompson is also on stage playing tenor. Pierre Michelot is along on bass and Maurice Vander on piano. The sequence is really damn short with Diannah Carroll performing the movie title song, not by Brahms but by Georges Auric.

Looks like the scene was filmed at the long gone La Calavados club off the Champs-Elysees. Pianist Joe Turner played there every night for years but he does not appear in the film.

There was a soundtrack album released of Auric's music but from what I understand Diannah Carroll sang a version of 'Goodbye Again' to the accompaniment of Ferrante and Teicher :(

Hm, I think we watched the beginning of this on TV, but I didn't stay long enough to see Lucky :(

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Chuck knows all about the Bolton. Chuck knows all about the Thompson. Chuck knows all about a bunch projects in the future like the KD Joe Hen disc, future Byard project, etc. Chuck worked on all these but no longer has a relationship with Uptown.

One disc of the Thompson is broadcast by Alan Grant - about 45 min.

The second is a "concert" with nice charts by Lucky. Dave Burns, Benny Powell, Cecil Payne, Hank Jones, Richard Davis and I don't remember the drummer right now. This disc is about 40 min.

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Chuck knows all about the Bolton. Chuck knows all about the Thompson. Chuck knows all about a bunch projects in the future like the KD Joe Hen disc, future Byard project, etc. Chuck worked on all these but no longer has a relationship with Uptown.

One disc of the Thompson is broadcast by Alan Grant - about 45 min.

The second is a "concert" with nice charts by Lucky. Dave Burns, Benny Powell, Cecil Payne, Hank Jones, Richard Davis and I don't remember the drummer right now. This disc is about 40 min.

But Chuck couldn't (or wouldn't) tell us about release schedules and the likelihood of release dates being accurate, right?

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