The Leon Thomas Album is the second album by American jazz vocalist and percussionist Leon Thomas recorded in 1970 and released by the Flying Dutchman label.[1][2][3]
AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek stated: "On the follow-up to the mind-blowing Spirits Known and Unknown, singer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer Leon Thomas decided to take a different track. Far from the sparely orchestrated ensembles of the previous works, Thomas loaded this set with jazz luminaries ... Side one is the up-tempo jazz ride, as Thomas and company rip through a host of his own tunes ... The real gem on the album is "Pharaoh's Tune (The Journey)," which comprises all of side two ... It's a breathtaking ride made all the more so by the long, jazzed-out setup of side one. Why this guy wasn't huge is a mystery.".[4] Critic Robert Christgau said "He has literally expanded the musical possibilities of the human voice. He is as powerful a jazz/blues singer as Joe Williams or Joe Turner, both of whom he occasionally resembles, as inventive a scatter as Ella Fitzgerald ... I have to suspend my disbelief and recommend this record unreservedly to anyone with the slightest fondness for jazz".[5]
Track listing
All compositions by Leon Thomas except where noted
