Lucky Thompson - Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know? (2006)

This medium swinger has a simple riff head with a classic soul-jazz sound. The words of the title are implied by the melodic rhythm. The blues-scale riff suggests an F minor tonality, but the head ends in F major so our lead sheets show that key signature. The head is 24 measures long, in three eight-measure sections; the B section has the same melody as A transposed up a fourth. C starts similarly to A but breaks off from the riff starting in the fifth measure, with a major-key resolution. The changes are largely a series of minor "turnarounds," using several different combinations of E♭7, D♭7, and A♭7 to approach Gm7♭5 (and the same thing up a fourth in the B section). At the end of the head, a "walk up" changes the tonality to major.
Solos on the recording are 12-measure blues; the head changes could definitely also be used for solos. The recording has an intro, which we show on the lead sheet. It's a vamp on Fm(maj7) with a Latin groove; Lucky plays a melodic line over the vamp for eight measures, followed by a two-measure piano break and a two-measure drum break leading into the head. The ending vamps and fades out on the last two measures of the head.
This little-known album was recorded in Paris, where Lucky lived through much of the late '50s to early '60s. Martial Solal was a frequent collaborator of Lucky's during this time and also earlier, when Lucky visited Paris in 1956. Lucky and Kenny Clarke first recorded together on Miles Davis' classic "Walkin'" session in 1954. Lucky, Kenny and Martial played together in quartet settings variously with each of them as the leader, with different bassists, mostly in Paris in the years Lucky lived there. German bassist Peter Trunk had previously played with Kenny Clarke on an all-star concert in 1958 in Baden-Baden, featuring Zoot Sims with fellow saxophonists Hans Koller and Helmut Brandt.
Review by Scott Yanow
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 discography.