A Lucky Serenade

Seattle’s Earshot Jazz magazine has a nice article by Philip Coady on Lucky Thompson. It includes stories about Clark Terry’s visits to his old friend before Thompson died. Coady also describes Ellis and Branford Marsalis going to Thompson’s hospital room and drawing out a man who had been mostly silent for years.

Branford played for Lucky, and in a moment none of us will ever forget, Lucky asked for something. In my years of visiting Lucky, I was always trying to discover what I could bring for him from the “outside.” “Is there anyting I can do for you?” I asked. But Lucky always replied, “Just be happy. That’s all I want.” This was repeated hundreds of times. Frankly, I had just never heard Lucky ask for anything—until this moment.

He asked Branford to play some more. “I’d like to hear more,” he said. This was coming from a man who hadn’t asked for anything in years.

Go here to read the piece and all of Earshot’s online pdf edition. Be patient. It takes a moment for the pdf to download.