He continues, "There's no real regret being on Nickelodeon. It became a really great transition into what I wanted to do." I had already worked with all of the major labels with some of their biggest artists. "By the time I was ready to start putting out records, everything was set and laid out. "A lot of the artists I was working with grew up watching me on television, so it gave me a leg up in a lot of rooms, and I was able to use that in the time where I was waiting for a lot of the Nickelodeon shine to wear off," he says. Though he admits it was challenging to balance both career paths at the same time, it gave him an "interesting advantage" when he decided to pursue the latter full-time. For the next roughly seven years, Thomas patiently waited for the right opportunity to transition from acting to music. Performing in three Broadway plays in three years gave Thomas a "crash course" in everything needed to catch the attention of a Viacom executive, who signed him to a developmental deal at age 13. I truly started diving into the world of music in a different way." "And once I got the play, it was a constant obsession with making more music around that. "I was able to start hearing my voice for the first time and feeling connected to singing and music in a different way than I had ever been before," he explains. However, his own dreams of being an entertainer didn't kick in until age 10, when he auditioned for a "really big Broadway play": "The Lion King." By that point, Thomas was unknowingly studying all the music greats. "There was a constant stream of music surrounding me from a very early age," he says, noting that he grew up listening to everyone from Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Donny Hathaway to D'Angelo and Erykah Badu. The Brooklyn-born, Los Angeles-based artist says his musical roots were planted when he was just a kid watching his parents, also musicians, run an independent record label out of their house. Thomas is hopeful that his solo music endeavors will clear a few things up for fans who only know him from his acting days, which included roles in HBO's "Insecure" and the 2017 drama film "Detroit." But truth be told, Thomas has been making major moves for himself for over a decade now - and they always connect right back to music. It's definitely a bittersweet thing from time to time, but I've grown to understand that people are still figuring it out and learning." "How you first meet somebody is how you'll usually grow to remember them. "I had to really circle back and realize I used to do that, too," he says. For anyone who hasn't heard Thomas, doesn't own his records, or does and merely wants a killer representative collection, The Creator is it.Thomas is still primarily being recognized for his "Victorious" role, which he admits, at one point, "kind of bothered" him. A previously unreleased version of "Um Um Um," from the concert that gave us Leon Thomas in Berlin in 1971, is a rare treat before the sprawling improvisation in the Afro-Latin jazz closer "Umbo Weti" from the same gig carries it out. Thomas' reading of Santana's "Just in Time to See the Sun" is another standout as drummer Pretty Purdie, guitarist Joe Beck, and bassist Richard Davis lock in some deep funky grooves behind him. It, along with the soaring "Come Along" (featuring Neal Creque and Billy Cobham), the funky "Let's Go Down to Lucy's," and "Love Each Other" are all included here from 1972's stellar Blues and the Soulful Truth. "Shape Your Mind to Die" is an otherworldly modal vocal performance it also features the most snaky, outside soprano playing of Pee Wee Ellis' career. "China Doll" melds spiritual jazz, blues, soul, and street swagger. While "The Creator Has a Master Plan" is the best-known title here, Thomas' readings of "straight" jazz material such as Milt Jackson's "Bags' Groove," from 1971's Leon Thomas Album, or "Welcome to New York," from his appearance on Johnny Hodges' Three Shades of Blue (with Oliver Nelson) in 1970, also rate highly. Dean Rudland and Beat Goes Public Records have assembled 15 cuts from the records Thomas cut for Bob Thiele's first label after he left Impulse! They are not sequenced chronologically, but aesthetically. Though he recorded and performed infrequently after the 1970s, his emotive phrasing, disciplined yodeling, and brave improvising influenced numerous vocalists who came later. He worked with everyone from Art Blakey and Count Basie to Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, and Santana. Leon Thomas was equally at home singing R&B, hard bop, swing, blues, avant jazz, and soul.
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