Leon Thomas: Kosmic Wisdom out of '73

Leon Thomas - It's My Life I'm Fighting For
Leon Thomas - Balance of Life (Peace of Mind)
From Full Circle: Flying Dutchman FD10167/BMG [Buy Here]

A DJ acquaintance of mine is doing the normal kiwi thing and heading to London to live and work for a while with his girlfriend. So he’s selling up some of his excess vinyl, (record cases being generally not very practical on jumbo jets), and I manage to get my hands on a few choice pieces, some of which are ultimately blogworthy....

Full Circle is a 1973 Leon Thomas joint recorded for Flying Dutchman. Given that I was only familiar with Leon Thomas through his work with Pharaoh Sanders (The Creator has a Master Plan on the Sanders album Karma), I was somewhat surprised that the bulk of the material on Full Circle was fairly standard orchestral soul and blues (OK, with Bernard Purdie handling the drums). But for me the highlights are these two selections: some nice modal/spiritual departures in which Thomas shows off his overwhelming, rich voice, with essential contributions from the band - Richard Davis bass, Neal Creque keys, Jimmy Owens trumpet, Joe Farrell flute, Pablo Landrum percussion.

Leon Thomas had an interesting career, (including working as a sideman on a Louis Armstrong recording in 1970, and with Carlos Santana and Count Basie), which is described here.

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ErrantFrenchNonsenseWithIncomprehensibleFlashDesign on yomgaille.com
Transcriptions of Buddy Rich tearing chunks off his incompetent bandmembers.