Lucky Thompson - The Beginning Years (1945-1949) 1991

The
first CD put out by the collectors IAJRC label was a big success, a
collection of some of tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson's mid-'40s West
Coast recordings. Thompson cut an enormous amount of sides while in Los
Angeles during 1945-47 and some of the cream is on this CD. The skilled
tenor (whose transitional style fell between swing and bop) is featured
with ten different recording groups (many quite obscure) and among the
other musicians are trumpeter Karl George, trombonist J.J. Johnson,
clarinetist Rudy Rutherford, altoist Marshall Royal, pianists Bill
Doggett and Dodo Marmarosa, bassists Oscar Pettiford and Charles Mingus,
drummer Shadow Wilson, singers David Allyn and Ernie Andrews and the
Mills Blue Rhythm Band. All of the 23 selections (which are of a
consistently high quality) were formerly quite rare, making this CD a
must for bop collectors.
Scott Yanow

Trackslist :

1 Vout Rhythm (Thompson) 2:54
2 Stormy Mood (Abernathy) 3:05
3 Baggin' the Boogie (Jones) 3:12
4 Bee Boogie Boo (Mosely) 2:50
5 Irresistible You (DePaul, Raye) 3:24
6 Phace (Green) 2:47
7 Don't Drive This Jive Away (Edson, Pettiford) 2:54
8 The Hour of Parting (Kahn, Spoliansky) 2:59
9 Abernathy's Boogie (Abernathy) 2:55
10 Cherokee (Noble) 2:44
11 Slowin' Down the Blues (?) 2:42
12 I'm Gonna See My Baby (Moore) 3:16
13 Frantic Blues (Hallberg) 2:58
14 Snowbound (Callender, Griffin) 2:58
15 Flight of the Vout Bug (Griffin, Marmarosa, Talbert) 3:11
16 It Shouldn't Happen to a Drea (Ellington, George, Hodges) 2:58
17 For You (Burke, Dubin) 3:06
18 Things Ain't What They Used to (Ellington, Hodges, Persons) 2:48
19 Jeep's Blues (Ellington, Hodges) 3:03
20 Day Dream (Ellington, Latouche) 2:55
21 Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn) 2:37
22 Hickory Dickory Dock (Traditional) 2:44
23 Blue Rhythm Be-Bop (Alexander, Mills) 3:03

Personnel:

Feat.
Lucky Thompson, Karl George, Mashall Royal, Gene Phillips, Charles
Mingus, Freddy Greene, Rodney Richardson, Shadow Wilson, Oscar
Pettiford, Al Hendrickson, Alvin Stoller, Dodo Marmarosa, Hal McKusick,
Lyle Griffin, Al Norris, etc...

Rec. between November 1945 & 1949
(See the complete artwork for all details)