Pat Thomas
Volume 1
*Limited Edition of 100. Pink Vinyl! 2024 stock* Super groups are not a riskless endeavor—but when they’re made up of longtime friends and master improvisers, they tend to work. On their collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, up-and-coming American saxophonist John Dikeman (When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) is accompanied by a group of UK-based music masters: pianist Pat Thomas, a 577 Records mainstay (Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess…
Fathom
*200 copies limited edition. 2024 stock* On Fathom, we hear the sound of the world mirrored back to us. An improvisational collaboration from legendary British multi-instrumentalist John Butcher, Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on Double Bass, and Steve Noble on Drums, the four artists play generously together. Fathom is an impressive work of avant-garde jazz that’s reminiscent of the non-musical world: squeaky wheels, growing tension, a babbling brook, all winding into lush harmonies. This ma…
Shifa - Live In Oslo
*2024 stock* ‘Live in Oslo’ is the sophomore album from Shifa, the outstanding UK trio featuring pianist extraordinaire Pat Thomas, celebrated saxophonist Rachel Musson, and sonic transcendent drummer Mark Sanders. The group derives its name from the Arabic word for healing and the music they make aspires to do just that.
This album follows their acclaimed, Downbeat 4-star debut ‘Shifa Live at Cafe Oto’. Listen to ‘Shifa Live in Oslo’ and discover contemporary master musicians celebrating the mo…
Unlockings
John Butcher is interested in particular people and their personalities. He prefers not to work in a generic situation, where there's an agreement in advance to play a certain kind of thing, and the music cannot swerve in a sudden fresh direction.
As he told me a few years back: "What got me so interested in the type of improvising I ended up really spending time on was, at least at a personal level, there was a feeling you could start from scratch. Now you might well be mistaken, and rediscover…
Lower Marsh
The record can be considered a sort of farewell note to one of London’s most crucial venues for improvised music and sound art after its unexpected closure in late 2023 due to gentrification. John Butcher had previously collaborated with these three musicians in different contexts, but Unlockings documents a first-of-its-kind quartet line-up.
"I wanted a new combination, but made of players I’d worked with over the years" says Butcher. "Choosing is probably 75 % about the player and 25 % about t…
Bleyschool: Where?
UK piano maestro Pat Thomas is back with his project BleySchool. This is the project’s second album. Music inspired by Paul Bley.
This Is Trick Step
It’s almost here! Genius UK improviser Pat Thomas is about to debut his first-ever 577 Records solo album – and abstract hip hop has never sounded so good! The much-anticipated ten-track This is Trick Step flawlessly showcases the artist’s distinguished approach to modern music. It immerses us in an almost 3D listening experience that creatively melds texture, depth, and mental stimulation.
“Imagine an Alternative Universe where JDilla and Morton Feldman collaborate: this is the result,” Pat …
Plays The Music Of Derek Bailey & Thelonious Monk
The Derek Bailey transcription were performed at the Holywell music room in October 2005 as part of a concert organised by Fran Ryan, who wanted to hear me playpiano in a more composed setting. I agreed to play music based on Derek Bailey’s early recordings and brilliantly transcribed by Chris Burn, which he had sent me, I was inter-ested in the challenge and the obvious contradiction of performing free improvisationsas compostions, especially Derek’s, knowing his view on the use of transcriptio…
The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir
Pat Thomas returns to Otoroku for his fourth collection of solo piano improvisations, this time recorded in a studio setting at London’s Fish Factory.
Educated Guess Vol. 1
2024 stock. Dave Tucker says that he brought this disparate group of musicians together for a live performance at London’s Cafe Oto last March on “an educated guess,” predicting that the artists - Mark Sanders (Drums & Percussion), Pat Thomas (Piano & Keys), Dave Tucker (Guitar) and Thurston Moore (Guitar) - would be able to create something extraordinary through improvisation. The condition of their encounter would later become the collective’s name, an “Educated Guess” and the eponymous title …
Shifa - Live At Cafe Oto
2024 stock. Shifa, from the Arabic word for healing, is a new trio born out of old musical partnerships from the ever-shifting sands of the UK improvised music scene. Pat Thomas, pianist extraordinaire whose eclectic motherboard pushes the music in unexpected twists and turns, suggested the name. The healing, in this case, is a raw, unfettered musical space where he, saxophonist Rachel Musson and drummer Mark Sanders meet and make music in the moment, of the moment. Each player values the others…
BleySchool
2024 stock. The trio pays homage to legendary pianist Paul Bley, drawing on both his tunes and improvisational approach. Bley’s music encompassed latin-inspired grooves, deceptively simple and catchy melodies, as well as freer improvisations. His willingness to collaborate openly with European improvisers as well as being part of the American tradition was an attractive template to follow.Pat Thomas, Dominic Lash and Tony Orrell grew up in the UK with the children’s tv series Play School and whe…
Know: Delirium Atom Paths
One of the most exhilarating shows he’d ever done, guitarist Chris Sharkey came away from his performance at the Fusebox in Leeds feeling alive. Just a few days before the world would slow, and two weeks before life in London would stop, keyboardist and 577 mainstay Pat Thomas, drummer Luke Reddin-Williams and Sharkey would go on stage to play for the first time together, having discussed and planned nothing. The improvisation, a gamble, worked. Recorded in one 50-minute track, one album, the pr…
Volume 2
Super groups are always risky—the potential for disappointing fans or warring musical styles is high—but when longtime friends and masterful improvisers come together, they usually work. Evident in their first collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, John Dikeman (Saxophone; When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) joined musicians Pat Thomas (Piano; Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess 2021), John Edwards (Bass; EMPoWered. 577 Records, 2021), and…
![[AHAD]/[WAHID]](https://cdn.soundohm.com/data/products/2022-12/-AHAD-jpg.jpg.500.jpg)
[AHAD]/[WAHID]
Tip! *Limited to 300 copies. [ahad] plays on 33rpm, [wahid] on 45rpm and with a locked groove. In process of stocking* On the 6th of September 2017 I experienced [Ahmed] for the first time. Celebrating the launch of their first LP – New Jazz Imagination at Café OTO, Dalston, London.
Seated at our favourite table, the cheeseboard, me and my good friend John witnessed the telepathy and synchronicity between Pat Thomas, Joel Grip, Antonin Gerbal and Seymour Wright. Intensity, energy, raw power and…
New Jazz Jungle: Remembering
Vinyl reissue of Pat Thomas’ New Jazz Jungle: Remembering. The album was originally released on CD in 1997, at a time when Pat had already spent years playing on the free improvisation circuit with the likes of Lol Coxhill and Derek Bailey. 10 tracks of bass heavy jungle breaks, which are intersected with vocal and orchestral samples, and layers of percussion rotating at varying time signatures. It’s in this fashion that the album seems to present itself: in layers. Thomas identified jungle’s w…
Akisakila / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees)
*Limited edition of 400 copies.* Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) is a collaboration between XT (the duo of Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright) and pianist Pat Thomas. Across the two LP sides (80 minutes), and four gatefold panels (13,331 words) together they reflect on, and take inspiration from, the late pianist, composer, poet Cecil Taylor. On 12 August 2018, as part of a Cafe OTO tribute to the recently deceased Taylor, the trio perform live a 'version' of The Cecil Taylor Un…
Bagman Live At Cafe Oto
Bagman, an imaginary character dreamt up by this experimental jazz trio, roams around in the figurative soundscape, collecting sonic debris. From a piano played on the inside and outside, electronics, saxophones, drums and junk objects shape a frenetic musical environment. Captured live at Cafe Oto in London, Pat Thomas (Piano, Electronics), Raymond Strid (Drums) and Sture Ericson (Tenor, Soprano Saxophones) assemble fragmented sounds in haphazard, creative and thrilling directions. After years …
Educated Guess Vol. 2
*In process of stocking* Following their first album, Dave Tucker (Guitar, Electronics), Pat Thomas (Piano & Keys), Thurston Moore (Guitar), and Mark Sanders (Drums & Percussion) decided to “guess again.” In March 2020, Tucker organized this group of musicians for an improvised performance at London’s Cafe Oto on a successful “educated guess.” Organized around a shared appreciation for improvisation and experimentation, that show resulted in the release of a two volume set.
The first volume is a…
Sound American no. 27 - The Life Issue (Book)
Sound American Publications' 27th issue, The Life Issue, proposes a reflection upon the smallness—and largeness—of living amidst a tumultuous, globally-shared moment. The Life Issue contributors include Claire Rousay, who writes about the many cuts accumulated while learning something new; pedal steel superhero Susan Alcorn recounts a battle with injury; composer Jack Langdon offers Sound American's second fiction offering, a story of how the pandemic affects a fictional musician, presenter, and…