The Squid's Ear Magazine


Thollem (w/ Alex Cline / Susan Alcorn): Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions (Astral Spirits)

In 2019 pianist Thollem McDonas toured the US -- 12 months and 25 albums worth of recordings -- joining collaborators from a vast spectrum of improvisers and performers, this album presenting two such recordings: one a duo with drummer/percussionist Alex Cline from a live concert in Santa Monica; the other a duo with guitarist Susan Alcorn recorded in Baltimore.
 

Price: $11.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Thollem McDonas-piano

Alex Cline-drums

Susan Alcorn-pedal steel


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Astral Spirits
Catalog ID: AS153-08CD
Squidco Product Code: 30268

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Track 1 recorded live at the Santa Monica Library, in Santa Monica, California, on July 17th, 2019.

Tracks 3 to 7 recorded in Baltimore, Maryland, in December, 2019, by susan Alcorn.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Who on earth-if he's even from this earth-is Thollem? I'll clue you in:Thollem is the ultimate enigma, a hardcore iconoclast and true original,in the musical, spiritual and other sense. A style-deconstructing soundexplorer who has feverishly gone against the grain throughout his careeras far as "genre" is concerned. Jazz? Experimental? New Music? Noise?Classical Contemporary? Drone? Improvised Music? It's none of the aboveand all of the above-usually at the same time.

Not only is pegging Thollem into the obligatory stylistic box anexercise in futility-but a good exercise at that-it's his unique personaand "the company he keeps" that help define his esthetic. His long listof collaborators, you ask? They are culled from across every spectrumand are his genre-obliterating kindred spirits. To name a smattering:the late great minimalist pioneer Pauline Oliveros, Wilco's Nels Cline,Jad Fair of outsider legends Half Japanese, the trailblazing composerand bassist William Parker, Sara Lund of post-hardcore heroes Unwound,Minutemen bassist and punk rock overlord Mike Watt, Thollem's life andcreative partner ACVilla (who provided the artwork for all the albumcovers). His jaw-dropping list of collaborators goes on and on.

Like the clenched-fisted ethos that Watt has lived and breathed by,Thollem abides, too. Master improviser, shamanistic mysterioso, roadwarrior, crooning art-pop tunesmith, bluesman, activist, writer,collaborator and more. I've written that Thollem is an improbable crossbetween Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and Andy Kaufman, his superhuman hand-worka glorious maelstrom of mind-bendingly poetic and spray-painted notesthat transport everyone and anyone to unexplored sonic realms. It's bothserious as a heart attack (props to the Minutemen there) and loose asall limbed heft that he unleashes.

Which brings us to the present and arguably to his apotheosis-at leastfor now. The ever-freewheeling and free-swinging maestro's so fittinglytitled and so fitting new venture that is so cut from his very own clotharrives with the perfect title in partnership with the equallyadventurous Austin label Astral Spirits: Thollem's Astral TravelingSessions.

Like Thollem's sound and vision unto itself, it's BIG. A 12-month,25-album series of recordings of Thollem caught on tape in collaborationwith 70 different musicians over the course of his extensive touringschedule in 2019. It's a sublime, ongoing document of Thollem'ssingularly creative reach and the invaluable alliances across the globeof which he's formed with his fellow avant-garde peers.

Released to date are duo sets with Tatsuya Nakatani, ChristosYermenoglou, Raven Chacon, John Dieterich and Carmina Escobar andquartet dates with Michael Wimberly/William Parker/Nels Cline, PeterValsamis/Orlando Greenhill/Jacqueline Kim as well as AlessandroLibrio/Eva Geraci/Lelio Giannetto (who sadly passed away fromcomplications due to COVID-19 on December 19, 2020).

What you're gripping now (or reading digitally) is the newestinstallment of Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions: an epic double albumsprawl. It features two remarkable and very disparate sets: a single40-minute collaboration that finds Thollem alongside the mighty drummerand composer Alex Cline (recorded at the Santa Monica Library in theMLK, Jr. Auditorium as part of the Soundwaves Series run by JaySchwartz) followed by a spiritually illuminating outing with pedal steelguitar extraordinaire, Susan Alcorn, captured at her home in Baltimore.A DEEP double bill of clinking, clattering and bangin' free jazz ecstasyand space-age twang from the cosmos.

Thollem is the Astral Traveling Man, riding the cosmic planes with hismusical soulmates in forward-looking sound and his Astral TravelingSessions are the ultimate testament to his perpetually heady quest. Hopon."-Brad Cohan, Brooklyn, N.Y., December, 2020


Artist Biographies

"Thollem is a pianist, keyboardist, organist, composer, improviser, singer-songwriter, activist, author and teacher. He's spent his life skirting and erasing the edges of boundaries musically, culturally, geographically. His work is ever changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences, both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines. Though Thollem's widely known as an acoustic piano player, he's also the lead vocalist for the Italian agit-punk band Tsigoti and has recently branched out significantly into the world of electronics through a multitude of projects.

Thollem was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, studying the standard classical piano repertoire, composing and improvising since he was a young child and absorbing the myriad of sounds of his culturally diverse upbringing. After dedicating his 20s and 30s to grassroots political activism, he's refocused his attention these last 15 years on a breadth of musics that incorporate his myriad experiences and curiosities. In this last decade alone, he has played well over 1,000 concerts throughout N. America and Europe as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of musicians, dancers, and filmmakers. As leader or co-leader, he has released over 50 albums in that span on 22 different vanguard labels to international critical acclaim. "Thollem is an astounding pianist who understands the huge scope of the instrument" (Terry Riley) and who continues to delve into the furthest reaches and sub-genres of Post-Classical, Free Jazz, Noise, Punk, dance and film. A brief cross section of his many recent collaborators include William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Stefano Scodanibbio, Nels Cline, Mike Watt, Rob Mazurek, Martha Colburn and ACVilla. He is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange as well as the lead singer of the Italian agit-punk band Tsigoti. Presently Thollem is developing an audio/visual experience about America through an 8 month, 48 state odyssey with his partner the videographer ACVilla. He's also a published author about art, politics and his travels in The Anthology of Essays On Deep Listening, Full Moon Magazine (Prague) and First American Art Magazine."

-Thollem McDonas Website (http://www.thollem.com/bio.html)
3/31/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Alex Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American jazz drummer.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Cline began playing drums with his twin brother, guitarist Nels Cline, at the age of 11. Their first band was called Homogenized Goo and included David Hirschman on guitar. Alex Cline began a musical association with woodwind artist Jamil Shabaka in 1976 as "Duo Infinity". In 1977, he became a member of Vinny Golia's group as well as the Julius Hemphill Trio (along with Baikida Carroll), formed the electric improvisational trio Spiral (with brother Nels and synthesizer player and multi-instrumentalist Brian Horner) and began performing solo percussion concerts.

In 1979, Alex and Nels Cline, along with bassist Eric von Essen and violinist Jeff Gauthier, formed "Quartet Music", a group that enjoyed continued success in its performances and four recordings over an eleven-year period and was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council.

In 1982, Alex Cline made his solo debut with Not Alone (Nine Winds), a double LP of percussion music. In 1987, he recorded The Lamp and The Star (ECM), his first album as a bandleader-composer. As the leader of his own group, The Alex Cline Ensemble, he can be heard on Sparks Fly Upward and The Constant Flame, two releases on Cryptogramophone Records, an LA-based independent creative-jazz label. Cline's other improvisational collaborations include right of violet and The Other Shore, both with Jeff Gauthier and ex-Shadowfax guitarist G.E. Stinson, and Cloud Plate (Cryptogramophone) with Stinson, vocalist Kaoru and koto player Miya Masaoka.

Other groups Cline has led are Alex Cline's Band of the Moment and The Rain Trio (with Eric Barber and Scott Walton). He has also been involved in duo percussion collaborations with Ron George, Peter Erskine, Christopher Garcia, Andrea Centazzo, Gregg Bendian and Dan Morris, as well as involved in performing the works of composers such as Robert Eriksson, Harold Budd and David Means.

Cline has served as composer and/or performer for numerous modern dancers and dance companies in Los Angeles, including Margaret Schuette, Linda Fowler, the Momentum Company's "Soundspace" concerts, Dance/LA, the UCLA Dance Company and has enjoyed a longstanding involvement with Will Salmon's Open Gate Theatre company.

He has participated in performance collaborations with visual artists Yoshio Ikezaki, Norton Wisdom, Kio Griffith and 2-Tu. He has worked on feature and cable television film soundtracks, done numerous sound workshops and percussion clinics, plus lecture-demonstrations on Asian metal percussion instruments. Cline has also been the curator of the Open Gate Theatre's Sunday Evening Concerts series, a new music/creative jazz showcase held monthly in Eagle Rock, California (since 1997).

He also works as an interviewer/interview series developer-coordinator at the UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research.

Cline has played on over eighty recordings, and has worked with Gregg Bendian, Tim Berne, Arthur Blythe, Bobby Bradford, John Wolf Brennan, John Carter, Buddy Collette, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich, Vinny Golia, Henry Grimes, Charlie Haden, Joseph Jarman, Henry Kaiser, Yusef Lateef, Charles Lloyd, Myra Melford, Frank Morgan, Don Preston, Elliott Sharp, Wadada Leo Smith, Philip Gelb, Richard Grossman, and others."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Cline)
3/31/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Susan Alcorn (born 1953) is an American composer, improvisor, and pedal steel guitarist. Having started out playing guitar at the age of twelve, she quickly immersed herself in folk music, blues, and the pop music of the 1960s. A chance encounter with blues musician Muddy Waters steered her towards playing slide guitar. By the time she was twenty-one, she had immersed herself in the pedal steel guitar, playing in country and western swing bands in Texas.

Soon, she began to combine the techniques of country-western pedal steel with her own extended techniques to form a personal style influenced by free jazz, avant-garde classical music, Indian ragas, Indigenous traditions, and various folk musics of the world. By the early 1990s her music began to show an influence of the holistic and feminist "deep listening" philosophies of Pauline Oliveros.

Though mostly a solo performer, Alcorn has collaborated with numerous artists including Pauline Oliveros, Eugene Chadbourne, Peter Kowald, Chris Cutler, Joe Giardullo, Caroline Kraabel, Earl Howard, Le Quan Ninh, Sean Meehan, Joe McPhee, LaDonna Smith, Mike Cooper, Walter Daniels, Ellen Fullman, Jandek, George Burt, Janel Leppin, Michael Formanek, Ellery Eskelin, Fred Frith, Maggie Nicols, Evan Parker, Johanna Varner, Zane Campbell and Mary Halvorson."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Alcorn)
3/31/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Thollem / Alex Cline 38:33

2. Intermission 0:54

3. Thollem / Susan Alcorn 1 5:25

4. Thollem / Susan Alcorn 2 7:39

5. Thollem / Susan Alcorn 3 7:15

6. Thollem / Susan Alcorn 4 6:26

7. Thollem / Susan Alcorn 5 7:12

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic

Piano & Keyboards
Guitarists, &c.
Percussion & Drums
Duo Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Astral Spirits.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
McDonas, Thollem
Infinite-Sum Game
(ESP)
Recording live in Palermo, Sicilia at Sala Perriera, Thollem McDonas' performance reflects a lifelong, genre-bending exploration of music, influenced by classical training, cultural diversity, and global experiences, blending classical, jazz, and punk into an omni-idiomatic dialogue; honoring the revolutionary spirit of the past while responding to the dynamics of our time.
Sikora, Catherine / Susan Alcorn
Filament
(Relative Pitch)
The first meeting of tenor saxophonist Catherine Sikora and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn was at the Zurcher Gallery in New York City in 2022, an inventive dialog of free improvisation split between three "Filaments", their interaction ranging from delicate dialog to asservite discourse in a wonderfully expressive concert of sincere affinity.
Alcorn, Susan / Septeto del Sur
Canto
(Relative Pitch)
Recording in Maria Pinto, Chile, steel guitarist Susan Alcorn combines Chilean folk and nueva cancion with free improvisation and contemporary classical in an expansive set of 5 original compositions and a group arrangement of the Victor Jara's "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz", the achingly beautiful themes paying tribute to the victims of Augusto Pinochet's regime.
Dykstra, Jordan / Brian McOmber
Blow the Man Down (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(Editions Verde)
A powerful set of succint compositions, themes and sea shanties for the soundtrack for Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole's film Blow the Man Down , scored through the collaboration of composers Jordan Dykstra, who also performs on viola, piano, prepared piano, vibraphone & percussion, and Brian Mcomber, who also performs on keyboards and percussion.
Alcorn, Susan / Patrick Holmes / Ryan Sawyer
From Union Pool
(Relative Pitch)
Taking the dual role of soaring guitar lines and savagely deep string foundations, Susan Alcorn joins clarinetist Patrick Holmes and drummer Ryan Sawyer for this invigorating 2022 concert at Union Pool in Brooklyn, their unique instrumentation providing clarity to each performer's contribution through their dynamic and often wildly energetic collective interplay.
Astroturf Noise (feat Susan Alcorn)
Blazing/Freezing
(577 Records)
A 2nd album of inexplicable and fascinating genre merging based around Americana roots music sliced and diced with jazz/improv, electronica, and Downtown NY forms, from the core trio of Sam Day Harmet (mandolin), Sana Nagano (violin), and Zachary Swanson (upright bass) with guests Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar, avant bluegrass guitarist Stash Wyslouch and Soundpainter Walter Thompson.
Clearfield, Rob / Quin Kirchner
Concentric Orbits [VINYL]
(Astral Spirits)
An active and creatively absorbing duo between Chicago drummer Quin Kirchner and French-based pianist Rob Clearfield, recorded spontaneously during the sessions of The Shadows and The Light, with one extended improvisation per side, alternating between percolating rhythms of quick witted exchanges to gorgeous lyrical moments of hanging piano figures.
Thollem
Obstacle Illusion
(Astral Spirits)
Taken from concerts during Thollem's 3-month European tour, at Centro d'Arte dell'Università di Padova; AngelicA at Teatro San Leonardo in Bologna; and Rassegna di Nuova Musica 39, performing on acoustic pianos or a Korg Wavestate, showing his technically impressive, creative drive over a diverse set of approaches to solo piano improvisation.
Mendoza, Ava
New Spells [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Astral Spirits)
A joint release between Astral Spirts and Relative Pitch, guitarist Ava Mendoza conjures five assertive and rugged "spells" performed on solo electric guitar, passionate works of raw technical skill and bold power as she improvises over two songs composed by herself, alongside pieces written for her from Devin Hoff, Trevor Dunn and John Dikeman.
Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions
w/ Avreeayl Ra & Matt Lux / Sunken Cages
(Astral Spirits)
As part of Thollem McDonas' Astral Traveling Sessions concert series, the pianist met Chicago legendary drummer Avreeayl Ra and and highly active improvising bassist Matthew Lux for this exceptional concert of two extended improvisations, followed by 8 duo studio improvisations as "Sunken Cages" recorded in Philadelphia with electroacoustic drummer Ravish Momin.
Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions
Thollem + Karl Berger, Thollem + Michael Snow
(Astral Spirits)
One of a series of pianist Thollem McDonas' Astral Traveling Sessions, a 25-album series of concerts from around the globe, performing concerts in varying configurations with 70 musicians, here with two collaborations: in Kingston, NY with the great vibraphonist Karl Berger for 3 improvisations, and in Toronto with pianist Michael Snow for an extended piano duo.
Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions
w/ Hafez Modirzadeh
(Astral Spirits)
One of a series of pianist Thollem McDonas' Astral Traveling Sessions, this unique duo configuration with NY saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh uses a sonic palette of eight re-tuned pitches for piano and saxophone in an attempt to expand harmonic empathy, bringing Eastern pitch relationships to Western improvisation through a series of extraordinary solo and duo recordings.
Thollem's Astral Traveling Sessions
Compilation Cassette [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Astral Spirits)
Travelling through the US & Greece to join with performers for duos and trios, in six recordings between pianist Thollem McDonas in a trio with Amy Denio & Samantha Boshnack; a duo with Seetha Shivaswamy; a trio with Mat Weisman and Rick Kodramaz; a duo with Djallo Djakate; a hand percussion duo with Jason Finkelman; and a vocal duo with Maria Karamouza.
Musicworks
#137 Fall 2020 [MAGAZINE + CD]
(Musicworks)
Fall 2020 issue of Canada's finest new music magazine, focusing on guitars--hollow, heavy, bowed, cracked, pedalled, flung, trusty companions & feedback demons; Plus articles on Casey Koyczan, Susan Alcorn, Amy Brandon, Aidan Baker, Eliza Kavtion, C. Diab, Markus Lake, Catherine Debard, Cloud Chamber, &c; and an 11-track CD with music from the aforementioned.
Estamos Trio (McDonas / Escobar / Tamez)
Dire Warning
(Relative Pitch)
Highlighting issues between the US & Mexican borders, Thollem McDonas' Estamos Trio presents their 2nd album, here with Carmina Escobar (vocals, electronics, guitarron), Milo Tamez (percussion, found objects, electronics) and Thollem (keyboard, vocals, clay pot) in a work commissioned by and recorded at the 2018 "Casa Tomada" (House Taken Over) in Santa Fe for SITE.
Shirosihi / Golia / Fujioka / Cline
Borasisi
(Astral Spirits)
Two drums and two saxophones merge to create this epic 2-part free jazz trek - "Right Eye Sun" and "Left Eye Moon", the album title taken from a sun deity in Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Cat's Cradle", who mated with the moon; this pairing is realized by West Coast masterful musicians Patrick Shiroishi & Vinny Golia (sax) and Dylan Fujioka and Alex Cline (drums & percussion).
Kuhn, Peter (w/ Cline/ Clucas / Sewelson / Walton)
Dependent Origination
(FMR)
Multi-reedist Peter Kuhn returned to the San Diego scene in 2013, forming the Dependent Origination band with a core of drummer Alex Cline and saxophonist Dave Sewelson, referencing the Buddhist concept of interdependent co-arising; 4 years later this album adding Dan Clucas (cornet) & Scott Walton (bass) represents the current state of this excellent collective band.
Thollem / Mazurek
Blind Curves and Box Canyons
(Relative Pitch)
Recorded at an exhibition of visual works by Chicago trumpeter Rob Mazurek in Texas, this was the first meeting with pianist Thollem McDonas, in an ardent session of explorative improvisation using electric and analog piano, sythn, samplers, cornet, voice, bells and effects; inquisitive and cathartic music of great drive.
TSIGOTI
Read Between The Lines...Think Outside Them
(Post Consumer)
The TSIGOTI quarter brings together Italians Jacopo Andreini on guitar, Andrea Caprara on drums, and Piero Spitilli on bass with California pianist Thollem McDonas for critical avant punk with a technically brilliant flair.
Estamos Trio
People's Historia
(Relative Pitch)
Taking song titles from the Arawak language, the Estamos Trio of Thollem McDonas (piano), Milo Tamez (drums) and Carmina Escobar (voice & electronics) brings together artists from the Mexican/U.S. border, creating beautiful creative works.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Wooley, Nate
Moths
(Editions Verde)
Nate Wooley's exquisite improvised composition begins with a musical gesture and four parameters of change from each player--harmonic motion, articulation, extension, & physicality--which directs their "flight" in its slowly evolving pace, creating a varying mosaic of sound, as beautifully rendered by Laura Cocks (flute), Madison Greenstone (clarinet) and Eric Wubbels (keys & voice).
Futari (Satoko Fujii / Taiko Saito)
Underground
(Libra)
Pandemic restrictions having cancelled their European tour, the Futari duo of pianist Satoko Fujii and vibraphonist Taiko Saito chose instead to develop a new collaborative album of improvisations exchanged by sound file, each intently listening to the other's recordings, their care and pensive responses creating an astounding and sublime album of stunningly beautiful music.
This Is It! (Fujii / Itani / Tamura)
Mosaic
(Libra)
Circumventing pandemic lockdowns, the trio of husband & wife, pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, recorded this album at their home in Kobe, Japan using an internet connection to perform in real time with drummer/percussionist Takashi Itani in Tokyo, their joyful and sophisticated improvisation a testament to close listening and magnificent communication.
Myers, David Lee
Room In A Moon House
(pulsewidth)
A series of "Rooms" and related electronic environments from New York sound artist David Lee Myers, whose long running Arcane Device project runs parallel to these nearly ambient works that Myers intimates are for intimate environments, developed through deft use of Eurorack electronics, feedback, sampling and other elegant electronic processes.
Threadgill, Henry Zooid
Poof
(Pi Recordings)
The sixth album in saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill's Zood small ensemble project Zooid, a quintet with guitarist Liberty Ellman, tuba & trombonist Jose Davila, cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee, following Threadgill's serial intervallic language compositions to create an amazingly intricate yet warmly embraceable avant jazz; exceptional!
Edwards, John / N.O. Moore / Eddie Prevost / Alan Wilkinson
EMPoWered
(577 Records)
A live performance from London's I'klectik by British musicians John Edwards (double bass), N.O. Moore (guitar), and Eddie Prévost (drums), who have a long-standing history as a trio known for both energetic playing and extraordinary introspection, here expanded with saxophonist Alan Wilkinson for two outstanding performances of technical mastery and deep communication.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC