For those unaware, Award-winning composer/arranger Omar Thomas weaves vivid emotional narratives on his exhilarating dream project, Griot Songs.

Out February 7th, 2025, Griot Songs marks the return of the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble after more than a decade, featuring soloists Jason Palmer, Mark Zaleski, Alex Brown, Mark Cocheo and others.

In West African tradition, the griot is a storyteller, poet and musician whose songs become a repository for a community’s traditions and history. Sixteen years in the making, Griot Songs – the breathtaking third release by the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble – is a distinctly personal and emotionally vibrant take on the role of the modern griot.

Through his visionary compositions and arrangements, Omar Thomas spins captivating narratives from his own experiences, inspirations and heritage.

It’s been over a decade since the release of the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble’s last album, We Will Know: An LGBT Civil Rights Piece in Four Movements, which Grammy Award-winning drummer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington hailed as a “thought provoking, multi-layered masterpiece.”

The big band made its auspicious debut in 2013 with I Am, which entered the iTunes Jazz Charts at #1. But Griot Songs, out February 7, 2025, is the project that Thomas has envisioned since initially forming the ensemble for his graduate composition recital at New England Conservatory in 2008.

The earliest versions of three of the pieces on the album date back to that time, with the remainder spanning several years of composing, revising and dreaming.

Griot Songs marks Thomas’ impassioned return to his roots. “I was ready to reintroduce myself as a big band composer,” he declares.

1. The Sun In September
2. Sail To The Moon
3. Obeah Woman
4. Nothing There
5. Episode D’Azur
6. The Path
7. A Touch Of Obsidian, A Flash of Scarlet

15-and-a-half years after the first notes that comprise its 7-track, 83-minute runtime were written and 9 years since the completion of its most recent track, this inspired new recording opens on the beautifully flourishing The Sun In September and then we get the dulcet Sail To The Moon and the stridently confident Obeah Woman.

Along next is the veritably shimmering Nothing There which is in turn backed seamlessly by the gently effervescent Episode D’Azur, the all-encompassing The Path, coming to a close on the elegantly cultured work of musical art A Touch Of Obsidian, A Flash of Scarlet.

Omar Thomas Large Ensemble - Obeah Woman [Official Video]