A pianist and keyboardist primarily, California-based musician Thollem is also a composer, a teacher, a performer, a collaborator and an activist. As a child, he began toying with piano improvisation and it is this radical and innovative practice that lies at the heart of everything that he has pursued throughout his musical career - a career in which he has been hugely prolific with over a hundred albums to his name. Embracing multiple genres including free jazz, modern classical and punk, his latest work Worlds in a Life, One is the first instalment of an investigation into sound and its infinite essence. 

The list of Thollem’s collaborators is distinctively impressive traversing the worlds of the avant-garde and the experimental including jazz double-bassists William Parker and Stefano Scodanibbio, electronic pioneers Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros, trumpeter Rob Mazurek and percussionist Michael Wimberly. In amongst it, Thollem is also a member of Italian ‘agit-prop’ punk band Tsigoti, not to mention a published author and reviewer. 

Last year saw Thollem collaborating with Riley and guitarist Nels Cline on The Light is Real and it is off the back of this that Worlds in a Life, One was borne - a manipulation of vocal and guitar samples from Riley and Cline respectively, Oliveros’ accordion, Parker’s bass and Wimberly’s drums, recorded in real-time and mixed and mastered by Thollem himself. 

Piece one starts with discordant piano motifs, before dropping into a more subtle and tremulous notation. Double bass sawing combines with sonic effects and fragments of guitar, Riley’s vocals repetitively looping. In the background lurks soaring synth as the vocals increase in speed. Returning intermittently to the original anchoring piano motif other instruments drift in and out returning at will. Midway, Wimberly’s drums appear subjugated by ominous electronica and high-pitched notes, followed by Oliveros’ accordion and some chaotic piano. Then, pause. Soothing piano returns, alongside sawing double bass and light background percussion. Reaching the denouement, what sounds like subdued but ever-growing chatter builds until the whole concern simply peeters out to a musical tumbleweed. 

For composition two, double bass and electronic sounds give way to high-pitched piano raindrops, the organ making its way in; a more merciful ride. With some atonal rapid and urgent notation, the force of the piano accelerates as the five-minute mark approaches. Riley’s voice re-enters again echoing the exigency - the same sample repeated in a bedrock of sonic effects; rising piano, voices and sawing bass mixed to disconcerting effect. Reminiscent of Ligeti vocals, the vocal push marauds as pure noise. For the final act, there is the essence of an orchestra warming-up - guitar, drums and vocals creating a muted but cacophonous sound. As the clouds clear, the subtle fingerpicking of the guitar and the lush melody of the piano push through, accompanied by Parker’s drums. Then again, almost silence. A whirr of a machine, subtle piano and the organ sounding unmistakable like a Wurlitzer; accordion, guitar, effects all playfully intertwine becoming progressively more insistent until a musical shimmer brings us to a close. Listen here.