Babatunde Lea | Umbo Weti – A Tribute To Leon Thomas 1937-1999 (Coming Sept 8, 2009)

UMBO WETI
finds Lea, and his “dream team” of musicians exploring pieces
associated with Thomas’ blend of a spiritually passionate and socially
conscious world view with deftly inventive musicality and progressive
vision.  They re-imagine Thomas’ version of John Lee Hooker’s primal
“Boom Boom Boom Boom,” his new lyrics for Horace Silver’s “Song for My
Father,” and the timeless “The Creator Has a Master Plan” – the latter
which inexplicably turned into an FM radio hit for Sanders and Thomas.
“It was the kind of post-bop thing that happened, kind of the spiritual
thing that [John] Coltrane started,” Lea explains.  “People always talk
about the spiritual nature of that music. It’s a spiritual jazz that
was going on in the late ’60s and the ’70s and the early ’80s. And Leon
was a big part of that music and really moved it forward.”

In
addition to other Thomas vehicles – the classics “Sun Song,” “Prince of
Peace,” and the title track among them – the ensemble presents extended
compositions by both Lea and Watts, and a version of John Coltrane’s
“Cousin Mary.”

Babatunde Lea has forged a career steeped in the
rhythms of Africa and its Caribbean and South American Diaspora. After
spending his formative years in NY and NJ, he migrated westward to the
San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s, where he furthered his
explorations into global rhythms as a member of percussionist Bill
Summers visionary ensemble Bata Koto.  Working with such stylists as
Thomas and Sanders, as well as Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner,
Randy Weston, Van Morrison, Oscar Brown, Jr., and a host of other jazz
luminaries has blessed Lea with a culturally diverse perspective that
fuels a creativity brimming with the wisdom of the ages. Above all,
Lea’s spiritual essence and serene nature are always at the forefront
of his art.

Lea’s deep musical connection with Thomas has its
roots in Englewood, NJ in the late ’50s, when the young musicians first
crossed paths. “He joined our church,” Lea recalls. “Leon sang in the
choir. I used to see him sing every Sunday and he would ‘turn the
church out!'”

Thomas regularly headed to New York City where he
soon established himself as one of the most unique and influential
vocalists on the jazz scene. A forefather of free jazz vocalization, he
was best known for his collaborations with Pharoah Sanders and Carlos
Santana in the late ’60s and ’70s. He wrote the lyrics and sang on
Sanders’ landmark recording of “The Creator Has A Master Plan.”

Hooking
back up with Thomas, and eventually following him into the bands of
Sanders and Santana, Lea’s collaborations with the iconoclastic singer
set him on a new musical path.

“Leon was not only the band
leader and one of my bosses,” Lea explains, “but he was very
instrumental to my artistic growth and my path in life as far as the
type of music that I like and the genre of music that I play. Playing
with him…was a pretty rich period in my life and my development.”

When
Thomas passed ten years ago, Lea quietly vowed he would find a way to
honor him in an appropriate fashion. In 2008, discussions with Peter
Williams at Yoshi’s, producer Howard Sapper of Extraordinaire Media and
Jana Herzen of Motéma Music brought the whole concept together, and it
was agreed that a live tribute recording would be filmed at Yoshi’s on
October 14 and 15.  The resulting two-disc set also includes bonus
video content. UMBO WETI
takes its name from the Thomas song titled after the yodel-like singing
of the Central African Twa people from whom he adopted  his distinctive
vocal style.

Joining Lea on this heartfelt tribute is
saxophonist Ernie Watts, who has been a favorite collaborator since
Watts spectacularly joined Lea’s Quartet for a four-day stint at
Rassella’s in San Francisco in 2002. Lea had long wanted to collaborate
on record with pianist/singer Patrice Rushen, while bassist Gary Brown
is an old Bay Area friend with whom Lea has played with for nearly 30
years. The lynch pin on UMBO WETI,
though, is vocalist Dwight Trible, whose voice and delivery “just
screams Leon Thomas,” according to Lea, and who worked with Lea on a
recorded suite and soundscape for the opening of San Francisco’s Museum
of the African Diaspora (MOAD). “It was a no-brainer to bring Dwight in
for UMBO WETI because, his sound comes directly out of Leon and all that innovation Leon was doing.”