Joe Thomas

The main fault to this set is simply that there is not enough of it. Trombonist Vic Dickenson, who receives top billing, is just on two of the six selections, for a total of 11 minutes. Dickenson's octet (which also includes trumpeter Buck Clayton, Hal Singer on tenor, clarinetist Herbie Hall, pianist Al Williams, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Marquis Foster) is fine, the arrangement on "The Lamp Is Low" is catchy and Clayton takes honors. But one suspects that the Dickenson name was used originally to help sell the music of the other band, which is led by trumpeter Joe Thomas. The lyrical Thomas is joined by the extroverted trumpeter Johnny Letman, trombonist Dicky Wells (who has a few speechlike solos), tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate, clarinetist Buster Bailey, pianist Herbie Nichols, guitarist Everett Barksdale, bassist Bill Pemberton, and drummer Jimmy Crawford…

The brief career of this artist, one of four different horn players in jazz named Joe Thomas, can be basically described as symposium on funky flute. He was certainly not the only flautist huffing and puffing over strong backbeats in the '70s and '80s, the era's popular players in this style including Herbie Mann, Jeremy Steig, and Hubert Laws. Thomas' masterwork in this genre might be considered to be "Funky Fever," more than ten minutes of jamming that has been described as "jazzy disco funk boogie," complete with a vocal chorus that chants "I've got this funky, funky fever."

The main fault to this set is simply that there is not enough of it. Trombonist Vic Dickenson, who receives top billing, is just on two of the six selections, for a total of 11 minutes. Dickenson's octet (which also includes trumpeter Buck Clayton, Hal Singer on tenor, clarinetist Herbie Hall, pianist Al Williams, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Marquis Foster) is fine, the arrangement on "The Lamp Is Low" is catchy and Clayton takes honors. But one suspects that the Dickenson name was used originally to help sell the music of the other band, which is led by trumpeter Joe Thomas. The lyrical Thomas is joined by the extroverted trumpeter Johnny Letman, trombonist Dicky Wells (who has a few speechlike solos), tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate, clarinetist Buster Bailey, pianist Herbie Nichols, guitarist Everett Barksdale, bassist Bill Pemberton, and drummer Jimmy Crawford…

The main fault to this set is simply that there is not enough of it. Trombonist Vic Dickenson, who receives top billing, is just on two of the six selections, for a total of 11 minutes. Dickenson's octet (which also includes trumpeter Buck Clayton, Hal Singer on tenor, clarinetist Herbie Hall, pianist Al Williams, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Marquis Foster) is fine, the arrangement on "The Lamp Is Low" is catchy and Clayton takes honors. But one suspects that the Dickenson name was used originally to help sell the music of the other band, which is led by trumpeter Joe Thomas. The lyrical Thomas is joined by the extroverted trumpeter Johnny Letman, trombonist Dicky Wells (who has a few speechlike solos), tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate, clarinetist Buster Bailey, pianist Herbie Nichols, guitarist Everett Barksdale, bassist Bill Pemberton, and drummer Jimmy Crawford…

The brief career of this artist, one of four different horn players in jazz named Joe Thomas, can be basically described as symposium on funky flute. He was certainly not the only flautist huffing and puffing over strong backbeats in the '70s and '80s, the era's popular players in this style including Herbie Mann, Jeremy Steig, and Hubert Laws. Thomas' masterwork in this genre might be considered to be "Funky Fever," more than ten minutes of jamming that has been described as "jazzy disco funk boogie," complete with a vocal chorus that chants "I've got this funky, funky fever."