LIVE 1970 by NUCLEUS WITH LEON THOMAS

This is the first official release of the June 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival concert featuring trumpeter Ian Carr’s pioneering Nucleus performing with US vocalist Leon Thomas on a set of Thomas’ own repertoire including ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’ (originally recorded in 1969 with Pharaoh Saunders).Nucleus won first prize representing the United Kingdom at the Festival that year, and were performing at the height of their powers with their first and finest lineup. The collaboration with Thomas is (in Ian’s words) a combination of the “rock thing…with the roots of the music”, but it is more than that: a band and singer in tune with one another, aware of all the contemporary developments in jazz, and of the music’s past, who are prepared to delve into all those areas to produce a sound that’s gloriously alive!