One Heck of a Great Guy
My meeting with Les Thompson came about on a trip with Pierre Beauregard to Los Angeles CA, in 1995. We were on a trip to promote the Magic Harmonica Company and the inventions. Our intention was to spend time with Jay Fitzerald, a Boston native and member of the Cambridge Harmonica Orchestra living in LA. With that visit came meeting up with all the players in the area; Grievin’ Steven Close, and others, including Les Thompson.
-One of the things I love about collecting jazz records is that there always seems to be something new to discover. Case in point: Last week I purchased that collection of mostly traditional jazz records, with a bunch of 10-inch LPs as well as some nice 78 boxed sets. I was going through some of the records this evening and came upon this 10-incher: Gene Norman Presents Just Jazz Featuring Les Thompson and His Harmonica, RCAVictor 3102. Frankly, I had never heard of Les Thompson and I’m not a huge fan of jazz harmonica, although I can appreciate some of Toots Thielemans. When I looked closer at the record, however, I noticed some quite interesting sidemen, most particularly Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray. I had thought I knew just about every record on which Dexter played, but obviously I did not. I’ve listened to one side of this and it’s pretty good, although I’m still waiting for a Dexter solo. This record looks to be from 1952. Anyone out there have any more insight/information? If you enlarge the picture on the site, you can clearly see the sidemen, which also includes Chico Hamilton and Conte Candoli.
[text lifted from JazzCollector.com]
-One of the things I love about collecting jazz records is that there always seems to be something new to discover. Case in point: Last week I purchased that collection of mostly traditional jazz records, with a bunch of 10-inch LPs as well as some nice 78 boxed sets. I was going through some of the records this evening and came upon this 10-incher: Gene Norman Presents Just Jazz Featuring Les Thompson and His Harmonica, RCAVictor 3102. Frankly, I had never heard of Les Thompson and I’m not a huge fan of jazz harmonica, although I can appreciate some of Toots Thielemans. When I looked closer at the record, however, I noticed some quite interesting sidemen, most particularly Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray. I had thought I knew just about every record on which Dexter played, but obviously I did not. I’ve listened to one side of this and it’s pretty good, although I’m still waiting for a Dexter solo. This record looks to be from 1952. Anyone out there have any more insight/information? If you enlarge the picture on the site, you can clearly see the sidemen, which also includes Chico Hamilton and Conte Candoli.
[text lifted from JazzCollector.com]
