John Thomas & Lifeforce -

John Thomas & Lifeforce were an American jazz-rock band behind the 1980/81 albums Devil Dance and 3000 Worlds on the German label NABEL Records.

Members: Gunnar Plümer (bass), Stefan Kremer (drums), Ponda O’Bryan (percussion), Andy Lumpp (piano), Monika Linges (vocals), Garcia Morales (drums), Eddy Veldman (percussion)

Background

John Thomas formed Lifeforce in West Germany after his 1977 move to Europe, with pianist Andy Lumpp, bassist Gunnar Plümer, drummer Stefan Kremer, and percussionist Ponda O’Bryan in the first recorded lineup.

Thomas was born John D. Thomas on Feb. 25, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois, to Ann Lois Williams and John Thomas Sr. Younger brother Eric Thomas played drums and guitar. Thomas studied guitar under Chicago guitarist Reggie Boyd and entered professional work on the local jazz circuit as a teenager.

Trumpeter Malachi Thompson recorded Thomas at P.S. Studio in Chicago in May 1972. Jimmy McGriff employed him on rhythm guitar for the October 1972 Groove Merchant album Fly Dude. Joe Henderson brought Thomas to Mercury Sound Studios in New York on Jan. 31, 1973, for Multiple. Thomas also worked with the AACM Big Band, Stanton Davis, Carter Jefferson, Andrew Cyrille, Kenny Drew, John Lewis, Harold Ousley, and Chet Baker through the Seventies.

Thomas moved to Europe in 1977 and joined the jazz department at the University of Duisburg as an instructor. He recorded with Theo Jörgensmann on Go Ahead Clarinet in 1978, then joined drummer Art Taylor for quartet dates. Pianist Andy Lumpp entered Hochschule für Musik Köln in 1975 after childhood piano and classical-guitar study, then played in Kölner Jazz-Trio and Uli Beckerhoff group Riot. Bassist Gunnar Plümer studied under Paul Breuer across a 1977–79 course at Hochschule für Musik Köln. Drummer Stefan Kremer studied at the Dante Agostini/Kenny Clarke École de Batterie in Paris and Berklee College of Music; at nineteen he toured Belgium and France with the Chet Baker Quintet.

Rainer Wiedensohler founded Nabel Records in Aachen in 1980 with Lifeforce among the label’s first projects. Thomas, Lumpp, Plümer, Kremer, and O’Bryan entered Studio Cornet in Cologne from June 12–23, 1980, for Devil Dance, with producer Rainer Wiedensohler, engineer Udo Gering, and guest vocalist Monika Linges.

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