This 1971 album by Leon Thomas, now back in print
in a remastered CD edition, paired the vocalist with
another St. Louis area native, arranger/composer
and saxophonist Oliver Nelson.
Just saw this for the first time while poking around STLtoday's music listings, and though I can't find anything else about it anywhere on the Web, it seems worth a mention:
There will be a jazz concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 28 at East St. Louis High School, 4901 State St., to benefit the Leon and Curtis Thomas Memorial Scholarship Fund. Featured performers will include Jeff Anderson, Arthur Moore, Steve Tatum, Reggie Thomas, Kevin Ward and Ben Wheeler, with Eugene Redmond as MC. Tickets are $10; for more information, call 618-274-0928.
The late Leon Thomas (1937-1999) was an East St. Louis native and jazz vocalist who co-composed with Pharoah Sanders the oft-performed song "The Creator Has A Master Plan". He combined jazz and blues with African and Caribbean influences (and even the occasional yodel), and performed with Sanders and other figures of the 1960s jazz avant-garde as well as with mainstreamers like Grant Green, Jimmy Forrest, Hank Crawford, Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams, Randy Weston, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Freddie Hubbard and even Louis Armstrong. Thomas also joined the Latin-rock band Santana as lead singer for a spell in the early 1970s. Though poor health prevented him from performing much during the last years of his life, Thomas was a unique and talented singer, one certainly worth remembering and celebrating.
(Alas, I can't tell you a thing about Curtis Thomas, and Google yields little of use, though one might guess he was related to Leon in some way. If anyone reading this knows, please share the scoop in the comments.)
UPDATE, 10:45 p.m., 4/30/06: According to this item about the concert from the Belleville News-Democrat, Curtis Thomas was Leon's brother who passed away last year. The story says he "began and oversaw a number of educational and cultural projects in East St. Louis."
(Edited for clarity immediately after posting.)
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