Nuclear Bomb, Cave Painting
Solo Piano



Pax Recordings

Reading between the lines and playing outside them...

1. AncientFutures
6.3MB
2. death is our only deadline
3. the poor are canaries
and the prophets
4. i know that i
think that i feel
2. BlackElkSpeaks
5.5MB
8. mind's found
an opening
9. the ohlone way
10. through confusion
comes understanding
11. one breath is
worth dying twice for
12. a moment is only if, and
then, and then, and then
13. LivingIsTheStrangest
ThingI'veDone
4.7MB

Eduardo Chagas, jazz e arredores - Portugal, 2005
“To read between the lines and play outside them,” is the guiding principle of pianist Thollem
McDonas. In his most recent work for Pax Recordings, it is this motto that provides the
interpretive key to an ecstatic excursion of 47 minutes, during which we peruse the musical
thinking of this master pianist from the San Francisco Bay Area.   This, his first solo recording,
flows from a long line of experience in a variety of groups, venues and arrangements, among which
is the exceptional duo with drummer Rick Rivera, a combo that has resulted in two recent and
excellent recordings: I’ll Meet You Halfway Out in the Middle of It All and Everything is Going
Everywhere.  Thollem’s art encompasses various genres and styles without falling into any in
particular. Strongly influenced by the tradition of classical piano in the past 50 years, the pianist
works meticulously in the depths of the patrimony common to both composition and improvisation,
raising them to heights not often heard. Not that the composer/improviser tries to show off a
stilted and hyper-technical mannerism in order to juggle his complete stylistic repertoire.
Rather, the end result is the natural consequence of being intrinsically eclectic at heart.
His inventiveness is facilitated by his highly developed virtuosity, a tool that allows him to
confer on his music an extraordinary flexibility and dynamic variability.   To read between the lines
and play outside of them….  The album, recorded between 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on March 18,
2005, includes 13 original arrangements that now are solid and vibrant, now fragile and
delicate in profile. Piano Solos is a musical journey in which a parade of the artist’s vivid
experiences of the last 5 years are simultaneously in balance with the direction in which he
will proceed in the future. As with his prior albums with Rick Rivera, the themes in Piano
Solos promote a direct and immediate reaction from the listener, creating an on-going
relationship guaranteed to bear the test of time.

RFT- St. Louis, 2005
McDonas welds elements of jazz, and classical music into a mighty tower of song, then shatters his construct with
the breathless bull-rush of a mystic improviser. Is this the limitless jazz of our fathers, or the Cageian
idealism of our mothers? Yes, both, please.

RFK, Monotremata- USA, 2005
RFK, Monotremata - USA, 2005
What we have here is a collection of thirteen solo piano pieces, all of an unpredictable and experimental
nature. McDonas is an excellent player with oodles of technique practically oozing out of his pores --
someone get that man a hanky! -- but he's no stodgy slave to form, as evidenced not only by his wild piano
runs but in titles like "death is our only deadline," "the poor are canaries and prophets," and
"living is the strangest thing i've done" (amen to that, brutah). His playing skills are sufficiently
advanced enough that at times he sounds like he's playing speed metal on a grand piano, with enough
force that you can just imagine the keys flying in all directions... but even when he slows down, it's
obvious that his sensibilities lie in the avant-garde and sudden shifts in direction. It's nice that the
recording is good enough to capture not only the mad rush of keys taking flight, but also the lingering
reverberation of sustained notes and chords (such as the more important moments of "death is our only
deadline"). It would be interesting to see him play, to actually see what he's doing, because it sounds to
me like he's making some bizarre leaps around the keyboard at times; there are many, many moments when
it sounds like his two hands are working completely independently, with each hand blazing through totally
different melodic progressions that nevertheless somehow manage to hang together. At other times it
sounds like his hands are working in tandem to complete progressions that are dizzying in their
technical complexity. No matter what he's doing, however, he remains firmly in control of the keyboard,
clearly articulating all the notes even at terminal velocity -- sloppy he ain't. He is also capable of
truly disorienting pieces like "i know that i think that i feel," where he manages to play totally
different progressions with each hand moving at wildly different speeds.While technical virtuosity
is obviously a requirement here, none of it sounds stuffy or forced -- in fact, he frequently sounds like he's
having a lot of fun, especially when he's executing complex runs and progressions that sound like they
shouldn't even be humanly possible. The sound he gets is highly reminiscent of the brilliant (and brilliantly
obscure) Thymme Jones album WHILE, although the intent and final sound of that album is radically different.
The thirteen improvisations here are evidence of a really different approach to the piano, to say the
least. The cats at Windham Hill would probably cringe in horror at what he's doing here, but Sun Ra would
have liked this guy. Highly recommended for those interested in hearing the extremes of possibility when
one man with unusual ideas sits down to beat the hell out of a piano.

Massimo Ricci, TouchingExtremes - Italy, 2005
Maybe the correct definition for Thollem's incredible, all-genre pianism is "large-scale". In about 46
minutes you can experience a series of tripping flights through the suspensions and the affirmations
of a technically over-advanced magician whose grip on every cognoscible aspect of those 88 black and white
keys is as strong as a garrotte on Bela Bartok's neck. The variety in McDonas' garden of chordal
laboriousness and melodic saltations can't receive justice from my words; this music's longevity is
directly embossed in a genetic code which bears the stigmates of experience bleeding with a profane
interest for what's still behind any digital discovery...and quite often those fingers seem to know
the answer to most of the upcoming interrogatives in good advance. Intimate and lyrical, overpowering and
broken-boned, these thirteen compositions never tell a lie to our inquiring minds: Thollem McDonas is for
real and "Solo piano" is yet another sample of his highly entertaining mastery.

Dolf Mulder, VitalWeekly, Holland, 2005
With the release of 'Solo Piano' Thollem McDonas knocks once more very determined on our door. In a
relatively short period (2004-2005) he recorded and released three CDs. On the third CD we have
McDonas playing solo on piano. With the release of this third CD an impressive and creative eruption
seems to come to an end. But I hope (and expect!) another one will take place sooner or later.
All three CDs are mature crystallization's of a clear compositional vision and carry a strong
personal stamp. Besides the music is performed with great skill and verve. The compositions of
McDonas are not over the top experimental, but do have many characteristic but unexpected moves
and twists that are sometimes beyond my logic. Surprising changes of mood, style and intensity pass
by. Intimate lyrical passages are followed by extravagant gestures of more rhythm-based sections or a
cascade of notes, etc. McDonas is not seeking experiment just for the sake of experiment. No each piece
is like a meditation or a reflection. This is also illustrated by titles McDonas choose for the compositions,
like 'Death Is Our Only Deadline', 'Gone Beyond Reason To Find One', "Living Is The Strangest Thing I've
done'. He must be a philosophic natural. As said in earlier reviews McDonas makes use of a diversity of
musical styles and genres. His sense for experimentation is not of a post-modern deconstructivistic
kind. But he is seeking constantly for unexpected and undiscovered corners. This is the case for example in
the opening track "Ancient Futures". During the 5:26 minutes it takes, it is as if the piece starts a
new from time to time, starting from a different idea, approach or mood. As if he does not know where to
start or where to go. This has an intriguing effect. On the other hand you can sense there is an
underlying unity which shows the integrating power of McDonas, compositional talent.
In the 13 compositions that are on this album McDonas shows many faces, often with humor and irony
without being superficial. They all breathe the same atmosphere of adventure and joy and are played
by a gifted musician with a heart. Chapeau!

Andrea Ferris, - Italy, 2006
(Solo Piano - 'Nuclear Bomb, Cave Painting')
(Translated from italian)
Somewhere I've read Mcdonas mixes many different styles and influences but at the same
time he doesn't remind one of any composer in particular and that's undeniably true. The
american performer is definitely talented when sitting in front of his piano and that's something
you hear immediately even if your not trained in the listening of classic or contemporary music,
some fast passages as well as some complicated structures emphasize the skill of this
composer/musician. The more time goes by, the more I lose my interest in many soloist performers,
but apart from the obvious fact that I'm getting to be a boring lazy fart, McDonas' work is
really interesting. After several listenings the quality tends to emerge by itself, it
doesn't take so much, it's just that there are so many classical and "un-classical"
(to quote one of the most interesting series on Subrosa) styles that at the beginning you're
partially disoriented by the big aura of coloursexpressed by this performer. God, if
I had to say it all, I've heard fragments of Satie, Feldman, Cage ("piano works" in
particular...obviously), Bartok, Weill but also Ellington, jazz piano, funny sketches
fused with some fragments of serialism. This is a snapshot of Mcdonas' ideas during the
last five years and this diary is full of contrasting pages written with irruence (some moments
of "Ancient futures"), quietness ("faithful skepticism"), somewhere he looks for a communication
("Through confusion comes understanding"), somewhere else just for isolation ("Mind's found an opening).
As I've said Mcdonas succeeds where many others fail.

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