Stories about Thollem (and everyone else) [2/2] ~ The Free Jazz Collective

My solo piano work is the result of my lifelong practice. When I was young
I dreamt of re-establishing the concept of composer/performer that used to
be such an important part of what we call classical music.

George Antheil

was kind of my hero for a while, and then I began to realize that this was
alive and well in the overall scope of jazz. Somewhere along the way it all
merged for me, composition and improvisation, European concert music and
black American music. I have a bunch of recordings out there, most recently
Infinite-Sum Game on ESP-Disk’ which is a concert recording in
Palermo in 2023.

Synthesizers and electronics

I am primarily inspired by exploring the possibilities of a particular
instrument. I was dedicated to the piano for most of my life and didn’t
record with an electric rig until about twelve years ago. I decided to take
the leap and ended up owning about thirty different rigs. Synthesizers,
samplers and mechanical instruments with pedals. Since I live on the road I
owned only one at a time, so I was buying, exploring, recording, and
selling, then buying a different one and so on. I’ve been working with the
Korg Wavestate for about five years now – I’ve had about eight of them with
other instruments in between – and have been working a lot utilizing my own
recordings as sample sources which developed out of

The Light Is Real

, for which Terry and I recorded vocal improvisations virtually. His files
were corrupted, so I chopped them up, imported them into the Wavestate and
played them back through the keyboard with effects. Terry loved it and that
gave me the idea to do this with samples from all five of the trio albums
with Nels, William Parker, Michael Wimberly and Pauline Oliveros. ESP-Disk’
released the first two Worlds in A Life volumes.

Live in Dublin

/ WFMU Live will be coming out on a Limerick-based label in June.

Song and other writing

Most people who know my work do not know that I’m also a
singer-songwriter. It definitely hasn’t been my emphasis, but I have been
writing songs since I was a very young. I’m the lead singer of Tsigoti, as
well as with the Hand To Man Band (Mike Watt, John Dieterich and Tim
Barnes) and on solo albums such as Machine in the Ghost and Hot Pursuit of Happiness’ This Day’s Called Tuesday, both on the Personal Archives label from Iowa and on a brand new album I’m
self-releasing on Bandcamp called Oligarch Super Villains. Most of my songs are socio-policital commentary, anti-war, and
philosophy, but I’m starting to work on an autobiographical album called Godammit Tommy! which is centered on my upbringing in the SF Bay Area and the political
and cultural happenings, drawing parallels to the dynamics of our time
now. Other than that, I have been published as a writer, most recently for
a publication out of the UK called The Land, about experiencing the
transition from the Valley Of Heart’s Delight to Silicon Valley as a
teenager. Over the last decade I have been the sole music writer for First
American Art Magazine which is devoted to native artists of the Americas,
as well as Essays on Deep Listening (for Pauline Oliveros), Blue Moon Magazine out of Prague, and ThreeFold Press out of Detroit.

Vision Festival and the New York scene

The common ground is the world of sound and our shared humanity. The beauty
of freely improvised music is that everyone is coming at it with the idea
that we are entering into a known/unknown territory, where exploration and
connection with each other is key. William Parker and I first met in
Detroit when I opened up for his trio at the old Bohemian National Home and
we continued our friendship over the years. He had contributed a
composition to Estamos Ensemble, a group of U.S. and Mexican musicians I
put together, and eventually I asked if he would like to play with me and
Nels Cline. I used to play a lot in New York but I haven’t so much in the
last few years, mostly because I’m no longer traveling around the country
in our van. It was a thrill to record with Karl Berger[1935-2023].
We were talking about a follow-up recording before he died. A great honor,
and I cherish this one recording we made. I also have a couple of albums
with Michael Snow, another dearly departed. One was
recorded at the Philly Museum of Art to open his retrospective show, and
was released by Edgetone Records, and the other one is part of my Astral
Traveling Sessions that we recorded at Array in Toronto and published on
Astral Spirits as part of a 25-album series of collaborations with many
different musicians in 2019 and released during the pandemic.
 

Photo by ACVilla

It was great playing at the 2024 edition of the Vision Festival. I was able
to attend the entirety of the fest. The first night was in honor of William
who performed with a variety of his projects and ensembles, and I played on
the last night, which also included the Sun Ra Arkestra and

Marshall Allen

for his 100th birthday celebration! I performed a solo piano set as well as
Worlds in A Life along with live video art by ACVilla. 

Upcoming projects

This month a duo album is coming out with Carlo Mascolo, a
trombonist from Puglia as well as a new Hot Pursuit of Happiness – my solo
songs project – album. This album is pretty political. In March I have a
duo album with the Uruguayan contrabassist Alvaro Rosso.
These are comprovisations based on the structures I devised originally for
my duo with Stefano Scodanibbio. We have a concert in Lisbon March 20th. In
April will also see the release of Omnileliomatic II with the
SIO. We will be celebrating this with a concert in Catania and another in
Palermo organized by Curva Minore, the organization founded by Lelio
Gianneto. I will also be playing duo concerts with

Maria Merlino

, a wonderful saxophonist from Messina to celebrate our duo album on Setola
di Maiale. The label is run by Stefano Giust, a great
drummer whom I originally met in a trio with

Edoardo Marraffa

. We call ourselves Magimc. Other releases coming out include my first
heavy metal album with a band called Akklamation from the Navajo Nation. I
got to know them through Diné [the name Navajos call themselves]
musician Michael Begay whom I’ve been collaborating with
for several years. In September I will be directing the second installment
of the Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence which brings together over
twenty musicians for three days of collaborations. Everyone is invited as
individuals and we play three large ensemble concerts at night as well as
smaller groupings, panel discussions, and educational programs. I am also
working with Cork Marcheschi, a visual artist and founding
member of the 1960s experimental rock band 50-Foot Hose for the next
Thollem/Cline trio album. Cork has built an array of mechanical noisemakers
and Nels and I will be playing in response to these!

Further meditations

We live in an increasingly perilous moment in time. I believe the arts have
an integral role to play in re-envisioning our relationship with each other
and the planet. I would encourage everyone to be more curious about what’s
happening in smaller pockets, places outside of the cultural meccas, and in
your own home town. In all of my travels I have had the privilege to
experience artists and communities in small cities and rural areas which
are all too often ignored by the larger publications, festivals and
audiences. I’ve always thought of counter-culture as something that is
truly counter to the anti-values of so much of mainstream culture. I’m
afraid to say however, that much of that has been lost to previous eras.
The world of improvised and experimental music has adopted many of the same
tactics and dynamics of consumerist society: There has been an accumulation
of wealth in power. We have our own 1%, as well as cult of personality and
celebrity worship, and as a result many beautiful artists are left behind.
It should always be about the work itself, not about where you come from,
and especially not what resources you have to throw at publicists. I know
dynamics are difficult in our world and there are many pressures, and I am
not suggesting that those who have the attention are not deserving it, but
it seems to me that there should be more curiosity for what is happening in
the more obscure parts of the world.

Upcoming albums (2025)

• Oligarch Super Villains

  Thollem’s Hot Pursuit Of Happiness (January)

• Quattro Frecce e Buonanotte

  Duo with Carlo Mascolo on Muzic Plus (January)

• Shatter and Conquer

  Thollem’s Hot Pursuit Of Happiness (February)

• Memories of Ourselves

  Duo with Alvaro Rosso on Setola di Maiale (March)

• OmniLelioMatic II

  with the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra on Setola di Maiale (April)

• Untitled

  trio with Jacopo Andreini and Charles Ferris on Bandcamp (May)

• Worlds in A Life Live

  (Solo Sextet) on Fort Evil Fruit

• Ohms

  with Akklamation (Heavy Metal band from the Navajo Nation) on TBA

Live in 2025