Eli "Lucky" Thompson is best known for his tenor sax on Miles Davis Walkin' album in the mid '50s; Thompson applied the big tone and vibrato of Swing tenors like Coleman Hawkins and Don Byas to bebop, ...

A legendary tenor and soprano saxophonist who took his place among the elite improvisers of jazz from the 1940's to the 1960's and then quit music. Lucky Thompson connected the swing era to the more ...

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Lucky Thompson: New York City, 1964-65 featuring rare live recordings of saxophonist Lucky Thompson. Thompson played with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Thelonious ...

Legendary bebop tenor saxophonist Eli “Lucky” Thompson, who scaled the heights of the jazz world, then gave up his instrument altogether, died last Saturday in Seattle. He was 81. Mr. Thompson ...

Lucky Thompson, an influential but enigmatic figure in jazz who bridged the music’s swing and bebop styles, has died. He was 81. Thompson died July 30 at an assisted living facility in Seattle. The ...

Eli "Lucky" Thompson, 81, a jazz tenor saxophonist of extraordinary range and command who turned reclusive in the 1970s and spent long periods living in his car and foraging for food, died July 30 at ...

SEATTLE, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Influential jazz saxophonist Eli "Lucky" Thompson has died in Seattle at age 81. Thompson died at an assisted living facility on July 30, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday ...

Saxophonist Lucky Thompson was indeed a lucky cat. He came through the scene at a pivotal moment, apprenticing with the Billy Eckstine band alongside both Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie - two ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Listen 5:50 Jazz critic Kevin ...