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Amos Leon Thomas Jr (1937 – May 8 1999) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 avant garde jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 singer from East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis, Illinois

East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. As of the United States Census 2000, the city had a total population of 31,542, less than half its peak in 1959....
. He changed his name to Leone in 1974 because of an interest he had in numerology at the time. He did not legally change his name and he reverted back to Leon shortly thereafter.

Thomas is known for his work with Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders

Pharoah Sanders is an United States jazz saxophonist. Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound." Albert Ayler fa...
, particularly the 1969 song "The Creator Has a Master Plan" from Sanders' Karma
Karma (Pharoah Sanders album)

Karma is a 1969 jazz recording by the American saxophone Pharoah Sanders....
 album.






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Amos Leon Thomas Jr (1937 – May 8 1999) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 avant garde jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 singer from East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis, Illinois

East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. As of the United States Census 2000, the city had a total population of 31,542, less than half its peak in 1959....
. He changed his name to Leone in 1974 because of an interest he had in numerology at the time. He did not legally change his name and he reverted back to Leon shortly thereafter.

Thomas is known for his work with Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders

Pharoah Sanders is an United States jazz saxophonist. Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound." Albert Ayler fa...
, particularly the 1969 song "The Creator Has a Master Plan" from Sanders' Karma
Karma (Pharoah Sanders album)

Karma is a 1969 jazz recording by the American saxophone Pharoah Sanders....
 album. Thomas's most distinctive device was that he often broke out into yodeling
Yodeling

Yodeling is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register to the falsetto voice, making a high-low-high-low sound....
 in the middle of a vocal. This style has influenced singers James Moody
James Moody

James Moody may refer to:*James Moody for the harmonica*James Moody , a loyalist volunteer and Nova Scotia politician from New Jersey*James Moody , jazz saxophone and flute player...
 and Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley

Timothy Charles Buckley III was an experimental vocalist and musician who incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul music, and avant-garde rock in a career spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s....
, among others.

Thomas studied music at Tennessee State University
Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University is a comprehensive, urban, coeducational land-grant university founded in 1912. TSU is the only state-funded Historically black colleges and universities in Tennessee....
.

Thomas was for a period member of the band of Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana

Carlos Augusto Santana Alves is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American Rock music musician and guitarist. He became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana , which created a highly successful blend of rock music, salsa music, and jazz fusion....
.

Thomas died of heart failure on May 8 1999.

Discography


As leader

  • Spirits of the known and unknown (69) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Leon Thomas album (70) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Blues and the soulful truth (72) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Full Circle (73) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Gold Sunrise on Magic Mountain (live 71) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Live in Berlin with Oliver Nelson (71) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Facets (compilation) (Flying Dutchman)
  • Anthology (compilation) (Soul Brother Records)


As sideman

With Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders

Pharoah Sanders is an United States jazz saxophonist. Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound." Albert Ayler fa...
  • Karma
    Karma (Pharoah Sanders album)

    Karma is a 1969 jazz recording by the American saxophone Pharoah Sanders....
     (1969)
  • Jewels of thought (1969)
  • Thembi
    Thembi

    Thembi is a 1971 album by free-jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.In this album, named after Sanders's son, the saxophonist moved away from the intense, lengthy, percussion-heavy jams he'd been pursuing in his solo work up to that point, and produced a record made up of shorter tracks, often with a more light and breezy feel....
     (1971)


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