The Leon Thomas Page

In Memory Of Leon Thomas,
One of my most gratifying experiences in creating and maintaining this website was meeting and becoming friends with the late Leon Thomas, who sadly died this past May of complications from Leukemia. I remember in about 1976 I first heard "The Creator Has A Masterplan." A friend of mine--a revolutionary activist, back then when it was not quite SO weird--had the gatefold LP of Pharoah's KARMA, and lent it to me since I had become interested in avant garde jazz. The shrieking saxophone was a kind of gauntlet, laid down at my feet for me to understand: that took time, time that ultimately proved well worth it. But the percussion hooked me, and above all I remember being taken away by the voice of this amazing singer who could summon other worlds with his voice.

20 years later I was a new initiate in my religion, wearing nothing but white, and according to the dictates for the new iyawo, forswearing a mundane social life for a year and 7 days. I put together this website in my spare time--suddenly I had a beneficence of that. Time that was meant for me to connect with the meaning of life; to discover, if you will, the Creator's masterplan for me. And so Leon Thomas' music became part of my focus: to apply my knowledge and spirituality and computer knowledge and design skill to something that would enrich my life's spirituality (and, of course, fill my time). And then one day, a few weeks before the celebration that was to mark the end of my year's devotions, the phone rang. My heart leapt in my chest as the booming voice on the other end of the line announced, "Ian Scott Horst? This is Leon Thomas."

Leon told me that his girlfriend at the time, Vienna--an herbalist and healer--had stumbled across the site while surfing the net. He was overjoyed. I was both embarrassed and awed that Leon Thomas was grateful to me, ME, for giving him a presence in the cyber age. I hardly knew what to say to this man to whom I was so grateful for enriching my imagination and spirit. I invited him to my ocha birthday celebration, and he and Vienna actually came. Having some experience in the Yoruba-derived religions himself--he once had his elekes and was marked for coronation as a child of Shango (which, Lord knows, he was, kabiosile) he saluted Obatala and offered him a ritual candle and coconut. I have rarely been so honored in my life as by Leon's presence in front of my orishas.

And so I got to know him a little...I would go to see him sing, and once in a while we'd talk on the phone as he attempted to rebuild his career. Attempts I hope this website helped. His personal life was never calm nor easy, and success was often elusive, but he was blessed with the love of good women when he needed it, and the guidance of the ancestors when he needed that. Despite his failing hearing and his hearing aid, his indomitable heart and spirit always came through in his music. When he fell ill in the winter I went to visit him in the hospital once, his demeanor jovial despite the hissing of various contraptions in the ICU where he spent far too much of his last months. Spirit gave Leon one last chance to sing, the night before his passing. By all accounts it was a deeply moving appearance at a club in Brooklyn. Anyway, the next morning, I received the sad call that Leon was gone. Well, if it could be said that Leon would ever leave us. Leon, God bless you: may your voice and spirit sing forever. It was an honor to know you. Mojuba Leon Thomas, ibae bae torun.

Many vocalists of the early 1970s found themselves in the world of spiritual, roots-oriented, consciousness jazz: DeeDee Bridgewater, Jean Carn, Jeanne Lee, Sherry Scott, Andy Bey, and others. But none exemplified the creativity of the music like singer/percussionist Leon Thomas. The vocalist and co-author with Pharoah Sanders of "The Creator Has A Master Plan," Thomas married his understandings of jazz and blues with an exploration of different African vocal traditions. While Thomas had a lyrical side, his voice became an instrument unto itself.

In the liner notes for one early Leon Thomas album it is reported, "Of Leon Thomas' singing on Pharoah Sanders' KARMA, Will Smith in Jazz & Pop Magazine observed: 'The voice projection of the lyrics is good and full, and leads to a wordless yodel sounding not unlike an American Indian call--the moaning of spirits known and unknown.'"

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Leon Thomas that appeared in Straight No Chaser #33, Autumn 1995. Straight No Chaser is a really groovy English jazz magazine, covering the resurgence in interest in great music (Acid jazz, jazz funk, kozmigroov, Latin & Brazilian) that those of us in the States wish was happening here on the same scale. It's available in most big record stores. The interview was conducted by Damian Lazarus.

"I was playing in Brooklyn with Randy Weston when Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders came by. They began to visit regularly and often jammed with us.

"Pharoah had this song called 'Pisces Moon,' which he was playing every night as a theme in New York and he asked me if I could put some lyrics to it. I came up with 'The Creator Has A Masterplan.' A classic was born...."

The yodelling trademark first materialised in the late 1960s and came as a result of somebody owing him money. "I'd been trying to reach this cat for ages with no luck. I was at home and thought 'I'm gonna make this cat pick up the phone'--mentally. I began my yoga exercises and got to the head stand. With one intake of breath, I planned to walk to the phone upside down, dial his number, and make him answer with this mental projection.

"As I crossed the threshhold of the bedroom, I transcended. I was one place and my body was another. I dropped to the floor, right on my face and my teeth went into my bottom lip. There was blood everywhere....

"So I couldn't do my own show with Pharoah. I had eight stitches in my mouth. I couldn't do anything. Pharoah came by to see me [and he said] you can't pull out."

Leon decided to play the gig, a church benefit for a group of anti-police activists in New York. "I couldn't smile. I could hardly open my mouth...but I went along anyhow. I got up on the stage and when it came time for me to scat, this sound just came out. It shocked me. I didn't know where it was coming from.

"I realised it was me and I realised that the ancestors had arrived. Pharoah, standing beside me on stage just raised his eyebrows at me. The ancestors had given me what we call throat articulation and they said to me 'You will sing like this with your mouth CLOSED.' And that was the first time it presented itself to me, in a church. My God! Thank you....It surprises me, it does everything of its own volition. I call it Soularfone. The pygmies call it Umbo Weti....This voice is not me, my voice is ancient. This person you see before you is controlled by ego but my voice is egoless."

Leon goes on to explain his falling out with Pharoah Sanders, his slide into a hedonist lifestyle during his time with Santana, his fall into drugs, his ill health, and his eventual return to his feet and a positive outlook. The complete interview can be had by purchasing a back issue direct from the magazine: write Straight No Chaser at 6 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU, UK.

The Story of Santana and Leon Thomas HERE