Leron Thomas - Cliquish (2015)

Leron Thomas is big underground. A cursory glance at his press page pays testament to how highly regarded the Texan-born New York -residing trumpeter, composer vocalist and lyricist is amongst tastemakers. Having made his mark with contributions to a host of highly acclaimed projects - Bilal, Jason Moran, Guts, Meshell Ndegeocello and of course the stunning vocal on Zara McFarlane's 'Angie La La - he's rated as much for his trumpet and vocal prowess as for his true artistic independence. Yet it would it be wrong to put him in the jazz/soul/funk box and firmly close the lid. Far from it, Leron Thomas's own music is a dazzling concoction of musical styles; random, raw and experimental. 'Cliquish' is a fine demonstration of just how unclassifiable this great talent is. Here, funky soul, driving bass lines meet with hard inde rock riffs and electro pop sci-fi weirdness. Leron has been steadily building his reputation in recent years, thanks in no small part to the Guts hit "Man Funk" (471k YouTube plays and counting), which he provided the vocals for. He is also the frontman and vocalist of the Guts live band and has strong support by international DJs such as Gilles Peterson, Lefto and Toshio Matsuoka.