Artist: Leon Thomas
Amos Leon Thomas Jr., known professionally as Leon Thomas, was an American jazz and blues vocalist, born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and known for his bellowing glottal-stop style of free jazz singing in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Leon Thomas was born in 1937, in East St. Louis, Illinois. He studied music at Tennessee State University. At the time of his studies, he had begun a singing career as a guest vocalist for the jazz bands of percussionist Armando Peraza, saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, and guitarist Grant Green. His musical development at this time was shaped in part by seeing saxophonist John Coltrane perform in trumpeter Miles Davis's sextet during the late 1950s. Thomas moved to New York City in 1959, singing at the Apollo Theater as a vocalist for acts such as jazz ensemble The Jazz Messengers and singer Dakota Staton.
In 1961, he joined the Count Basie Orchestra, but soon left after being conscripted into the army. Thomas was discharged from the army in the late 1960s and resumed his music career, first working with avant-garde jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. In 1969, he released his first solo album for Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label. Thomas became best known for his work with Sanders, particularly the 1969 song "The Creator Has a Master Plan" from Sanders' Karma album.
Through the 1970s, Thomas recorded a series of critically acclaimed records for Flying Dutchman, and performed with the bands of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and guitarist Carlos Santana, touring as a member of the Santana band in 1973. He later appeared on recordings with saxophonist Gary Bartz and singer Jeri Brown.
During the 1990s, Thomas's recordings of spiritually- and African-influenced soul jazz resurfaced among record collectors and club deejays, becoming known as "kosmigroov" music. During the late 90's, Thomas toured the US and Europe with a band named Blueswing, led by Music Director/Guitarist Kevin McNeal, Billy Kaye on Drums, Ian McDonald/piano and Hilliard Greene/stick double bass.
Thomas has been called the "John Coltrane of jazz vocalists". According to music essayist and yodel expert Bart Plantenga, he combined scat singing, vocalese techniques from African tradition, and a unique approach to yodeling, "performing ritualistic vocals infused by spiritual quests, soul music, and Pygmy yodeling techniques."
Further information about Leon Thomas is found here.
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Thomas, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Pharoah's Tune (The Journey)
Leon Thomas w Oliver Nelson "The Creator Has A Master Plan" Live 1971