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's discography.