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Pat Thomas

Pat Thomas is a British pianist and electronics player, born in Oxford in 1960 to Antiguan parents. Derek Bailey invited him to Company Week in 1990 and 1991; he later played in Tony Oxley's quartet and in duo with Lol Coxhill. Since the late 1980s he has used computers and samplers alongside the piano, as on New Jazz Jungle: Remembering (1997). He co-leads Black Top with Orphy Robinson and plays in Ahmed, a quartet devoted to the music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik. His solo piano records for Otoroku include The Elephant Clock of Al Jazari and The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir.

Volume 2
Translucent Sea Blue Vinyl version. Super groups are always risky—the potential for disappointing fans or warring musical styles is high—but when longtime friends and masterful improvisers come together, they usually work. Evident in their first coll…
Educated Guess Vol. 1
Yellow Vinyl version. Dave Tucker says that he brought this disparate group of musicians together for a live performance at London’s Cafe Oto last March on “an educated guess,” predicting that the artists - Mark Sanders (Drums & Percussion), Pat Thom…
Company91 - Volume 1 (CD)
Rare 1994 CD-only first volume on Incus with 1991 recordings by the pool of acclaimed free improvising musicians led by Derek Bailey and featuring John Zorn, Pat Thomas, Buckethead, Paul Lovens and Alexander Balanescu.
Company91 - Volume 2 (CD)
Rare 1994 CD-only second volume on Incus with 1991 recordings by the pool of acclaimed free improvising musicians led by Derek Bailey and featuring John Zorn, Pat Thomas, Buckethead, Paul Lovens and Alexander Balanescu.
Company91 - Volume 3 (CD)
Rare 1994 CD-only third volume on Incus with 1991 recordings by the pool of acclaimed free improvising musicians led by Derek Bailey and featuring John Zorn, Pat Thomas, Buckethead, Paul Lovens and Alexander Balanescu.
Manara
Manara is a trio that emerged from a love of poetry, a shared interest in the musical traditions of the Middle East and poetry as political resistance. The musicians had worked together before separately – Alya and Khabat performed together in Suleim…
Red Sulphur
First meeting of two incredible talents - Tyshawn Sorey on drums and Pat Thomas on piano.
Of all people...
*200 copies limited edition* Jump is a new pan-European trio bringing together three musicians from different generations and backgrounds: British pianist Pat Thomas, Danish saxophonist and composer Maria Dybbroe, and Italian vocalist, composer and m…
Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* Zurich
Pianist Pat Thomas, saxophonist Seymour Wright (both of [ahmed]) and drummer Paul Abbott - the latter two working as XT - deliver a remarkable set of new music, each, re-imagining improvisation and synthetic ideas with acoustic and electronic tools. …
Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* London
Pianist Pat Thomas, saxophonist Seymour Wright (both of [ahmed]) and drummer Paul Abbott - the latter two working as XT - deliver a remarkable set of new music, each, re-imagining improvisation and synthetic ideas with acoustic and electronic tools. …
Hikmah
Hikmah is the astonishing new solo piano work from Pat Thomas - virtuosic sound scientist, deep and compassionate thinker, and UK-based musical treasure. A singular album in his now substantial body of work, it marks his first release for TAO Forms. …
Dark Days
Stirring with poetic force, Dark Days by Neil Charles sets the bass as both anchor and insurrection, channeling the spirit of James Baldwin into a contemporary jazz crucible. Here, searing improvisation and taut spoken word entwine, yielding an album…
Reality Is Not a Theory
Reality Is Not a Theory by Mark Fell and Pat Thomas is a vivid collaboration exploring the friction between theorized structure and lived musical experience. By fusing Fell’s technologically limited triggers for creativity with Thomas’s exploratory i…
The Bliss of Bliss
With The Bliss of Bliss, Pat Thomas distills four decades of radical pianism into a transcendent live improvisation. Recorded in Geneva in 2024, the album transforms the solo piano into a realm of shifting densities and ecstatic form, where each note…
A Mountain Sees a Mountain
A Mountain Sees a Mountain, the new duo recording by Hamid Drake and Pat Thomas, captures two master improvisers engaged in an intimate yet expansive dialogue. Released in October 2025 via Old Heaven Books, the album bridges African rhythmic philosop…
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Wadud (Most Loving)
*300 coipies limited edition* This very special and wonderful solo performance by Oxford based Pat Thomas was recorded in Dublin during the first ever Reception Weekend event at the Complex. The piano Pat was playing had been very unique as it had co…
Lifeline
Pat Thomas, Tony Orrell, and Dominic Lash, known as Bleyschool, here perform as Lifeline, swapping acoustic for electric instruments in a spontaneous blend of noise, dance, and rock—exploring new sounds while maintaining deep musical rapport.
Ecliptic
Shifa is a name taken from the Arabic word for healing, شفاء. The trio's members are three of the UK's most experienced and in-demand improvising musicians.
Shifa - Live In Oslo
*2024 stock* ‘Live in Oslo’ is the sophomore album from Shifa, the outstanding UK trio featuring pianist extraordinaire Pat Thomas, celebrated saxophonist Rachel Musson, and sonic transcendent drummer Mark Sanders. The group derives its name from the…
Volume 1
*Limited Edition of 100. Pink Vinyl! 2024 stock* Super groups are not a riskless endeavor—but when they’re made up of longtime friends and master improvisers, they tend to work. On their collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, up-and-coming American s…
Fathom
*200 copies limited edition. 2024 stock* On Fathom, we hear the sound of the world mirrored back to us. An improvisational collaboration from legendary British multi-instrumentalist John Butcher, Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on Double Bass, and …
Unlockings
John Butcher is interested in particular people and their personalities. He prefers not to work in a generic situation, where there's an agreement in advance to play a certain kind of thing, and the music cannot swerve in a sudden fresh direction. As…
Lower Marsh
The record can be considered a sort of farewell note to one of London’s most crucial venues for improvised music and sound art after its unexpected closure in late 2023 due to gentrification. John Butcher had previously collaborated with these three …
Bleyschool: Where?
UK piano maestro Pat Thomas is back with his project BleySchool. This is the project’s second album. Music inspired by Paul Bley.
This Is Trick Step
It’s almost here!  Genius UK improviser Pat Thomas is about to debut his first-ever 577 Records solo album – and abstract hip hop has never sounded so good!  The much-anticipated ten-track This is Trick Step flawlessly showcases the artist’s distingu…
Plays The Music Of Derek Bailey & Thelonious Monk
The Derek Bailey transcription were performed at the Holywell music room in October 2005 as part of a concert organised by Fran Ryan, who wanted to hear me playpiano in a more composed setting. I agreed to play music based on Derek Bailey’s early rec…
The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir
Pat Thomas returns to Otoroku for his fourth collection of solo piano improvisations, this time recorded in a studio setting at London’s Fish Factory.
Maua
“A blissfully ecstatic sprawl of spiritual-jazz explorations of the most transcendent order” – Brooklyn Rail
Shifa - Live At Cafe Oto
2024 stock. Shifa, from the Arabic word for healing, is a new trio born out of old musical partnerships from the ever-shifting sands of the UK improvised music scene. Pat Thomas, pianist extraordinaire whose eclectic motherboard pushes the music in u…
BleySchool
2024 stock. The trio pays homage to legendary pianist Paul Bley, drawing on both his tunes and improvisational approach. Bley’s music encompassed latin-inspired grooves, deceptively simple and catchy melodies, as well as freer improvisations. His wil…
Know: Delirium Atom Paths
One of the most exhilarating shows he’d ever done, guitarist Chris Sharkey came away from his performance at the Fusebox in Leeds feeling alive. Just a few days before the world would slow, and two weeks before life in London would stop, keyboardist …
[AHAD]/[WAHID]
Tip! *Limited to 300 copies. [ahad] plays on 33rpm, [wahid] on 45rpm and with a locked groove. In process of stocking* On the 6th of September 2017 I experienced [Ahmed] for the first time. Celebrating the launch of their first LP – New Jazz Imaginat…
New Jazz Jungle: Remembering
Vinyl reissue of Pat Thomas’ New Jazz Jungle: Remembering. The album was originally released on CD in 1997, at a time when Pat had already spent years playing on the free improvisation circuit with the likes of Lol Coxhill and Derek Bailey. 10 tracks…
Akisakila / Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees)
*Limited edition of 400 copies.* Attitudes of Preparation (Mountains, Oceans, Trees) is a collaboration between XT (the duo of Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright) and pianist Pat Thomas.  Across the two LP sides (80 minutes), and four gatefold panels (13…
Bagman Live At Cafe Oto
Bagman, an imaginary character dreamt up by this experimental jazz trio, roams around in the figurative soundscape, collecting sonic debris. From a piano played on the inside and outside, electronics, saxophones, drums and junk objects shape a frenet…
Educated Guess Vol. 2
*In process of stocking* Following their first album, Dave Tucker (Guitar, Electronics), Pat Thomas (Piano & Keys), Thurston Moore (Guitar), and Mark Sanders (Drums & Percussion) decided to “guess again.” In March 2020, Tucker organized this group of…
Sound American no. 27 - The Life Issue (Book)
Sound American Publications' 27th issue, The Life Issue, proposes a reflection upon the smallness—and largeness—of living amidst a tumultuous, globally-shared moment. The Life Issue contributors include Claire Rousay, who writes about the many cuts a…
Some Good News
Double CD documenting the magic meeting of one of the all-time great rhythm sections in jazz: percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker, with London’s brilliant Black Top (Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas) and Elaine Mitchener. Across two set…
The Truth
Pat Thomas is one of the most extraordinary pianists of our time. In a first time duo with saxophonist Matana Roberts, the lyricism of his distinctly dexterous and curious approach to the piano paints pathways for Robert’s poignantly vocal saxophone.…
Mopomoso Tour 2013 - Making Rooms
4-disc boxset with 20-page booklet documenting Mopomoso's triumphant UK tour in 2013. disc 1 – Evan Parker / John Russell / John Edwards – Chasing The Peripanjandra disc 2 – Pat Thomas – Naqsh disc 3 – Alison Blunt / Benedict Taylor / David Leahy – K…