THE LIGHTMEN - FREE AS YOU WANNA BE

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: VAMPI352
Barcode: 8435008865238
Release Date: 10 Apr 2026
Genre: Jazz

Drummer, bandleader and activist Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for peacock and back beat records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. “Free As You Wanna Be”, his first album with his band The Lightmen, predates the deep-set, maverick jazz issued by the likes of Tribe and Strata East: This album is a harbinger of the collective voice of resistance to the musical and cultural status quo that emerged in the 1970s jazz underground.

1 Creative Music
2 Free As You Wanna Be
3 High Pockets
4 Talk Visit
5 May 67
6 #109 Psychosomatic
7 Luke