Luther Thomas

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luther Thomas

Luther Thomas (born June 23, 1950 in St. Louis ; † September 8, 2009 ) was an American alto saxophonist of avant-garde jazz .

Live and act

Dizzazz in France in June 1981. Left to right: Luther Thomas (as), Danny Petroni (g), Donald Nicks (bass), Marvin Neal (tb), Warren Benbow (drums), John K. Mulkerin (tp) and Billy "Spaceman" Paterson (g)

Thomas received a saxophone at the age of 14 and played in the school band, a marching band and a large-format dance orchestra. As a teenager he met Oliver Lake , Hamiet Bluiett and Julius Hemphill . Inspired by the alto saxophonist Vi Reed, he switched from the baritone saxophone to the alto as the main instrument. With Lester Bowie as a mentor, he came into the environment of the Black Artists Group in his hometown. First he played in the Human Arts Ensemble , with whom he temporarily stayed in Oregon on James Marshall's suggestion; In 1973 he returned to his hometown and made recordings with the ensemble with which he toured Europe in 1977 and 1978. At the same time he founded the Saint Louis Creative Ensemble with Joseph Bowie , in which Darrell Mixon and Rasul Siddik played alongside Charles Bobo Shaw . He performed with the Saint Louis Creative Ensemble at the New Jazz Festival Moers in 1979 . In 1981 he made a guest appearance there with his formation Dizzaz , which included more funk elements and with which he had a small hit that same year ("Nervous Breakdown / Six Months In Reform School"). He also played with James Chance and the Contortions , with whom he appeared in Moers in 1997.

Since 1996 Thomas lived in Denmark , where he also worked with Hugh Steinmetz . In 2014, the double album Live in Denmark was released posthumously , which, in addition to concert excerpts recorded in 2008 with the Mikkel Mark Trio and guests, contains studio recordings from June 2009.

Discographic notes

  • Luther Thomas Creative Ensemble: Funky Donkey ( Circle Records / Creative Consciousness Records rec. 1973, ed. 1977, with Floyd LeFlore , Harold Pudgey Atterbury, Lester Bowie , Joseph Bowie, JD Parran , Marvin Horne, Eric Foreman, Charles Bobo Shaw , Abdullah Yakub, Rocky Washington)
  • Human Arts Ensemble: Junk Trap ( Black Saint , 1978, with J. Bowie, James Emery , John Lindberg, and Charles Bobo Shaw.)
  • Saint Louis Creative Ensemble: Live at Moers (Moers Music, 1979)
  • Luther Thomas and Dizzaz: Yo 'Momma (Moers, 1981)
  • Luther Thomas Quintet: Don't Tell! (Creative Consciousness Music, 1993, with Ted Daniel, Charles Eubanks , Wilber Morris , Denis Charles )
  • BAGin It ( CIMP , 1996, with Ted Daniel, Wilber Morris, Dennis Charles)
  • Finally! Total Unity in 3 Phases (2006), with Jeffrey Hayden Sturdut, Ed Chang, Motoko Smimizu
  • Luther Thomas & John Lindberg Spirit of St. Louis ( Ayler Records , 2008)
  • In Denmark (ILK, 2014, previously unpublished live recordings on 2 CDs)

literature

Web links

Commons : Luther Thomas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary (English)
  2. ^ Dennis Owsley City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis, 1895-1973 , 2006 p. 179
  3. ↑ Stefan Wood: Luther Thomas - In Denmark (ILK, 2014) *****. freejazzblog.org, accessed March 7, 2015 .
  4. ↑ republished with another title by Atavistic 2001; at Creative Consciousness Records or Atavistic under the name Luther Thomas Human Arts Ensemble Directs the Saint Louis Missouri Creative Ensemble
personal data
SURNAME Thomas, Luther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 2009