The Squid's Ear Magazine


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.
 

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Thollem McDonas-piano


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UPC: 825481508827

Label: ESP
Catalog ID: ESPDISK 5088CD
Squidco Product Code: 35356

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Sala Perriera, Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, in Palermo, Sicilia, Italy, on May 13th, 2023, by Simone Sfamelli.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"My approach to the piano is unique, based on my lifelong relationship with the instrument. It is also universal, born out of the context of everything and everyone who came before and during. I have been influenced by my classical piano training, my pianist parents, growing up in the culturally diverse SF Bay Area, West Coast punk rock, Kuumbwa Jazz Club, The Cabrillo Music Festival, and my life of traveling and living without a home base.

This album expresses the culmination of my life's experiences in dialogue with the universe and my fellow human beings, including all the artists I've worked with over the years. Those collaborations have continuously helped stretch me into new shapes. An "infinite-sum game" is the opposite of a "zero-sum game" in that all participants benefit from each other-a symbiosis of sorts, biologically, culturally, financially, and politically. It's the heightened state of mind of recognizing that our lives are better when others are also doing well, and we put in the effort to facilitate this outcome.

Since I was a child, the confluence between musics has been at the forefront of my curiosity. As a result, my music is genre-bending, code-switching, omni-idiomatic, and intersectional. Growing up, all of the composers I was studying were telling me to tell my own story. I was hyper-aware that "Classical Music" was actually a constant revolution, and that this was the same for jazz and rock and roll too. The greatest way to honor the revolutionaries of the past is to respond to the dynamics of one's own time.

I never set out to play a certain style of music or to emulate anyone, but through my own particular explorational approach, sounds inevitably arise that conjure someone else's music, which is wide open for interpretation. Some of these comprovisations have been included on previous solo albums of mine. I see this recording as the ultimate, and final, document of these pieces.

Thank you for listening!"-Thollem McDonas


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)
12/3/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. When Only Knows 4:52

2. All the Creatures 2:34

3. From Why We Came 5:39

4. Gathering Gatherers 3:40

5. Fiercely Sweetly 6:28

6. Nomad Sunset 6:39

7. Every Key Every Door 3:34

8. Forever Flow 4:56

9. Feel a Drop of Rain for a While 3:03

10. Into the When 3:14

11. Unmasking Now 4:38

12. The Sunrise Gang 3:30

13. Symbi Oasis 7:53

Related Categories of Interest:


ESP
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Piano & Keyboards
Solo Artist Recordings
West Coast/Pacific US Jazz
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

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