Lucky Thompson Lord, Lord Am I Ever Gonna Know CD

Lucky played with everyone form Basie to Miles and is revealed here at the zenith of his musical career, both as a tenor player and on soprano saxophone. He plays soprano on four tracks with his unique tone and delivery in strong contrast to today's quer

LORD, LORD AM I EVER GONNA KNOW was recorded in 1960 but was not released until 1997.
Personnel: Lucky Thompson (soprano & tenor saxophones); Martial Solal (piano); Peter Trunk (bass); Kenny Clarke (drums).
Recorded in Paris, France in 1960.
Contains 8 tracks.
With the exception of one selection ("Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know"), all of the music from this rare performance went unreleased until this 1997 CD. Lucky Thompson (who doubles evenly here on tenor and soprano) is joined by pianist Martial Solal, bassist Peter Trunk and drummer Kenny Clarke for the Paris date. The formerly lost, LP-length tapes find Thompson in prime form playing his relaxed originals. Most unusual is "Choose Your Own," which features Thompson playing unaccompanied solos, on both tenor and soprano. The CD actually opens with a spoken monologue by Thompson from March 20, 1968, describing some of his philosophy and telling the public to ignore hype and decide for themselves what music is best. Unfortunately, he would soon become so disillusioned with the music business that he would drop out altogether by the '70s, a major loss to jazz. This fairly straight-ahead date is a valuable addition to Lucky Thompson's discography. ~ Scott Yanow

JazzTimes (8/97, p.81) - "Here's a find...a definitive moment in a great career...Martial Solal on piano, Peter Trunk on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums are perfect. So is this release, with exemplary packaging, excellent notes (by Mark Gardner) and really wonderul music."