Pat Thomas Interviewed and Profiled

Source: JazzTimes.

British keyboardist Pat Thomas has performed alongside avant-garde luminaries for decades, but somehow has remained a relatively unknown quantity on this side of the Atlantic. At age 60, he has yet to play a live show in America. However, he’s increasingly been releasing music on U.S.-based imprints, including Nights on Saturn (communication), the most recent album by his quartet [Ahmed], issued in late March by Astral Spirits. While the group’s name pays tribute to Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1927-1993), a Thelonious Monk and Randy Weston compatriot, its work strays far from his swing, indulging instead in rhythmically acute free improv that rarely relents in its pounding explorations.