Good Luck – Eli "Lucky" Thompson

Lucky Thompson wrote many blues heads that deserve wider recognition; this is certainly one of them. It is very much a major blues, with both the I and IV chords having major rather than dominant qualities. The melody winds upward at first, mostly stepwise, before gradually mostly descending from the fifth measure. The changes also ascend at first, with an unexpected switch to a downward direction in the third measure—Dm7 to F♯m7 to lead to Fm7-B♭7-E♭maj7. After that there is a II-V7 to D♭ major instead of the expected tonic in the seventh measure; the "turnaround" is a largely chromatic walk-down from dominant to tonic.

On this recording, the solos are on standard blues changes. There is an intro, which like that of Mister Man contains eight measures of written material followed by a four-measure bass solo break. In this case there is a stop-and-go series of rhythmic figures, a conversation between the full band and the drums; the ensemble figures are full of that chromatic approach that Lucky excelled at.

The horns harmonize at two points in the intro, with the trombone taking the upper notes. The tenor sax adds a countermelody line in the fifth measure of the head, and one note of harmony on the seventh. The out head ends with a melodic break leading to unexpected E♭maj7(♯9) and Dmaj7 chords; these are harmonized with tenor above and trombone below. These harmonies are shown in the C treble and bass clef lead sheets as well as the B♭ tenor sax lead sheet.