Lady Luck Turns Her Back

Another Titan returns to Mount Olympus. Lucky Thompson passed away at the age of 81 and I’m getting tired of posting these obits. Though his flashy sobriquet became something of a sad misnomer in his later years, his best work still stands as some of the best bop-born jazz available. My personal favorites from a discography with an uncommonly high hit rate include: Tricotism (Impulse) w/ the killer trio of Oscar Pettiford & Skeeter Best, Lord, Lord am I Ever Gonna Know? (Candid) and his trilogy of releases for Prestige, Plays Jerome Kern, Lucky Strikes! and Plays Happy Days Are Here Again. The latter trifecta is notable for programs loaded with standards as well as the ample presence of his much vaunted soprano, all laid to wax under Rudy Van Gelder’s watchful engineering eye. It’s still my belief than no one can match Lucky’s sleek smoothness of tone on the straight horn (not even Zoot Sims, who by my gauge comes closest). His tenor work was the stuff of legends too, dark chocolate-rich and the epitome of urbane sophistication with an improvisatory acumen that could cut most comers. Hopefully Chuck Nessa will open a collection fund so the classic Body and Soul album reissued on his eponymous label can finally find renewed circulation. Where do I send the check?