Leon Thomas Blues Band - The Leon Thomas Blues Band (1988)

01.Every Year I Get the Blues
02.Shake, Rattle & Roll
03.Every Day I Have the Blues
04.School Girl Blues
05.Flip Flop and Fly
06.Duke's Place
07.Blues Is the Blues Is the Blues
08.Next Time You See Me.



Leon Thomas' next incarnation was a total departure, for he re-invented himself as a straight-ahead, no-crap blues singer in the mold of Big Joe Turner! He started out on the right track by putting together a tight, smart blues ensemble -- with Houston Person on tenor, Babe Clark on baritone, Ernie Hayes on piano, Melvin Sparks and Hugh McCracken on guitar, and the incomparable Bernard Purdie driving it along on drums. But then, mysteriously, Leon didn't follow all the way through, for he sings on only three tracks here, one a duet with the competent blues singer Donald Smith (two others are instrumentals, and three more are solos for Smith). Thomas does a whale of a job on his two Big Joe solo numbers, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and "Flip, Flop and Fly" -- his vocals are full of authentic character with nary a yodel to be heard. But such short weight on an already brief (34 minutes) CD rule this album out for all but dedicated Leon Thomas nuts. ~ Richard S. Ginell.

Leon Thomas (who changed his name to Leone in 1974) made his mark in 1969, singing "The Creator Has a Master Plan" with Pharoah Sanders and showing that even avant-garde jazz can become popular under some circumstances. A fairly conventional singer, the most unusual aspect to Thomas was that he often broke out into yodelling in the middle of a vocal, a device since utilized occasionally by James Moody. Thomas, whose early associates included Grant Green, Jimmy Forrest, and Hank Crawford, studied music for two years at Tennessee State University. He moved to New York in 1958, toured with a show sponsored by the Apollo Theater, had two largely unrecorded stints with Count Basie (1961 and 1964-1965), and performed with such jazz artists as Mary Lou Williams, Randy Weston, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and later on Oliver Nelson. After recording "The Creator Has a Master Plan" in 1969 (once under his own name, with the better-known version being on Sanders' Karma), Thomas seemed on the verge of stardom. However, his career faltered and he remained an underground figure. As a leader, Leon Thomas recorded for Flying Dutchman, Blues Time, Mega, the Italian Palcoscenico label (in 1979 with Freddie Hubbard's group); as the leader of a blues-oriented band for Portrait (1988); and for Mapleshade. He also appeared as a sideman in many situations, including on a Louis Armstrong 1970 record and with Carlos Santana (who he worked with in 1971). Thomas died of heart failure on May 8, 1999. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide.