Eli (Lucky) Thompson (June 16, 1924 in Columbia, South Carolina – July 30, 2005 in Seattle, Washington) was an African American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. He is considered to have, alongside Steve Lacy brought the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence, playing it in a more advanced boppish format, which inspired John Coltrane to take it up in the early 1960s. After playing with the swing orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Don Redman, Billy Eckstine, Lucky Millinder, and Count Basie, he worked in rhythm and blues and then established a career in bop and hard bop...

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