Lucky Thompson: Sonny Lester Collection (1991)

OK, this looks kinda low budget, but the music is first rate! 8 tracks from two early 70s recordings that Lucky Thomspon did for Groove Merchant. This is what Dusty Groove has to say about ILLUMINATIONS (the complete GOODBYE YESTERDAY and I OFFER YOU, back to back on one CD):

First up is GOODBYE YESTERDAY - an album that has Lucky Thompson working in a mode that's quite different than his early years - working in a cool group that includes Cedar Walton on electric piano and celeste, Larry Ridley on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums! While most cuts are relatively straight, they've got an open soulful approach that's quite different from most of Lucky's other work - much more in the vein of recordings by Walton from the time, with an arch soul jazz righteousness to them, and a bit of an electric vibe when Cedar hits the keyboards. I OFFER YOU is an excellent album of mellow soulful tracks by Lucky Thompson - with a sweet 70s groove that's quite different from most of his other recordings! The album's got a cool mellow feel - with Lucky veering much more towards a CTI-ish electric mode than the style he used on most of his other earlier albums, which were in a soul jazz or hardbop style. Thompson plays both tenor and soprano sax - sometimes with hints of a post-Coltrane influence, in lines that are nice and snakey! The group's great too - with Cedar Walton on acoustic and electric piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums - all very soulful players that help bring a righteous sort of energy to the album!