Lucky Thompson
Tenor Sax Solo on
Yardbird Suite

About

Lucky Thompson's tenor saxophone solo is the third of five improvisations on this recording. Lucky Thompson takes the first half of a chorus, after having played on only the bridge during the Miles Davis solo the chorus before. Taking a half chorus of the 32-bar AABA form in C at 215 BPM, Thompson's tenor adds a different tonal color to the parade of soloists, his warmer, fuller sound contrasting with Parker's bright alto and Davis's cooler trumpet on this classic contrafact based loosely on the changes of "Rosetta."

Lucky Thompson was 21 to 22 years old at the time.