Pat Thomas, Wazifah Vol. 1, Scatter Archive ***1/2

A huge contrast to the last time we tuned into work by Pat Thomas - Wazifah is a world away from the pianist's solo Ellington explorations reviewed in these pages last year. So, instead, and even more singularly, the concept is certainly intriguing …

Published: 3 Mar 2023. Updated: 13 months.

A huge contrast to the last time we tuned into work by Pat Thomas - Wazifah is a world away from the pianist's solo Ellington explorations reviewed in these pages last year. So, instead, and even more singularly, the concept is certainly intriguing and novel sounding very experimental art music. ''Spiritual exercises'' - the gloss for the ''wazifah'' which is a sufi concept - in the title, Thomas explains in the Bandcamp notes, are expressed via a computer program from IRCAM (The Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music, based in Paris) called TimeStretch. The terrain the program triggers can be vast sounding ('10Y') serenely percussive and more intimate ('3') or even able to sketch a scything modernistic eerie humanoid-like wasteland ('19W') like an architect of chaos theory. Whether weird disembodied whistling or Dr Who-esque radiophonic workshop-like futuresounds ('6') are the outcome or not, Thomas' unsettling compositions speak of a feeling of alienation and isolation in an unsparing technological universe that he imaginatively prowls around.

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Published: 3 Mar 2023. Updated: 13 months.

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Take a few minutes to cue you in and clue you up on what's hot at the moment on the jazz scene

Subscribe on Spotify. Illustration: DALL . E 2