Music
Lucky Thompson
1924–2005 · jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist
Detroit-raised tenor and soprano saxophonist, a Cass Tech graduate who played with Basie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis and was an early modern master of the soprano sax.
- Born
Columbia, South Carolina- Died
Seattle, Washington
aged 81- Birth name
- Eli Thompson
- Detroit years
- 1930s–1942
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Eli “Lucky” Thompson was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and moved to Detroit as a child. He graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1942 and immediately joined Erskine Hawkins's touring band, the first step in a career that took him through the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine, Lucky Millinder and Count Basie. His sophisticated, harmonically adventurous tenor, rooted in Coleman Hawkins and Don Byas, made him a sought-after sideman in bebop and hard bop: he recorded with Charlie Parker in Los Angeles and on Miles Davis's Walkin' session. He was also one of the first modern jazz players to take up the soprano saxophone. Frustrated with the American music business, he lived and recorded in Paris from 1957 to 1962 and later in Switzerland. After teaching at Dartmouth College in the early 1970s he left music entirely, and he spent his last years in Seattle.
Highlights
- Graduated from Detroit's Cass Technical High School in 1942
- Played with Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and Billy Eckstine
- Recorded with Charlie Parker and on Miles Davis's Walkin'
- Early modern champion of the soprano saxophone
- Lived and recorded in Paris, 1957–1962
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1938–1942
Cass Technical High School
The downtown magnet school he graduated from in 1942 before going on the road with Erskine Hawkins.