Leon Thomas
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Many vocalists of the early 1970s found themselves in the world of spiritual, roots-oriented, consciousness jazz: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jean Carn, Jeanne Lee, Sherry Scott, Andy Bey, and others. But none exemplified the creativity of the music like singer/percussionist Leon Thomas."-- Ian Scott Horst [1] |
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Amos Leon Thomas Jr. (October 4, 1937 – May 8, 1999), 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.
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Appraisal
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." Thomas's extension of the anthropological "verbal energy"—"whenever his Pygmy-yodel-scat erupted from the opening at the top of his larynx"—returns the listener back to "Pygmy yodeling not only via ethnomusicological investigation but via ur-soul, or back-to-Africa spiritual pilgrimage", Plantenga said.
Discography
As leader
- Spirits Known and Unknown (Flying Dutchman, 1969)
- The Leon Thomas Album (Flying Dutchman, 1970)
- Leon Thomas in Berlin (Flying Dutchman, 1971) with Oliver Nelson
- Gold Sunrise on Magic Mountain (Mega, 1971)
- Blues and the Soulful Truth (Flying Dutchman, 1972)
- Full Circle (Flying Dutchman, 1973)
- Precious Energy (Mapleshade, 1990) with Gary Bartz
As sideman
With Pharoah Sanders
- Karma (Impulse!, 1969)
- Jewels of Thought (Impulse!, 1969)
- Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (Strata-East, 1973)
- Shukuru (Theresa, 1985)
- Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong (Doctor Jazz, 1987)
With Santana
With others
- Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong and His Friends (Flying Dutchman/Amsterdam, 1970)
- Count Basie, Pop Goes the Basie (Reprise, 1965)
- Jeri Brown, Zaius (Justin Time, 1998)
- Louis Hayes, Variety Is the Spice (Gryphon, 1979)
- Johnny Hodges, 3 Shades of Blue (Flying Dutchman, 1970) with Oliver Nelson
- Dave Liebman, Light'n Up, Please! (Horizon/A&M, 1977)
- Archie Shepp, Kwanza (Impulse!, 1974)
- Malachi Thompson, Spirit (Delmark, 1983)
- Cedar Walton, Soundscapes (Columbia, 1980)
See also
- Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World (2003) by Bart Plantenga