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 collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, John Dikeman (Saxophone; When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) joined musicians Pat Thomas (Piano; Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess 2021), John Edwards (Bass…
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 Thomas (Piano & Keys), Dave Tucker (Guitar) and Thurston Moore (Guitar) - would be able to create something extraordinary through improvisation. The condition of their encounter would later become the collective’s name, an “Educated Guess” and the eponym…
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 Suleimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan as part of the Space 21 Festival, and Alya and Pat have improvised together in several ensembles over the past decade.
Alya had arrived at a time where she was desperate to explore the performance of more poetry in her mother …
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 multi-instrumentalist Andrea S. Giordano. The three met in Oslo in August 2021, as the pandemic was finally beginning to loosen its grip. Their first encounter was immediate and symbiotic, making it clear that a new band had taken shape. Since then, J…
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. This monumental new suite Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* released by We Jazz Records on 30th January 2026 is spread across three release formats, the complete album includes more than 2 hours and 15 minutes of music recorded live in London and Zuric…
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. This monumental new suite Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* released by We Jazz Records on 30th January 2026 is spread across three release formats, the complete album includes more than 2 hours and 15 minutes of music recorded live in London and Zuric…
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. Born in Oxford to Antiguan parents on July 27, 1960, Thomas belongs to a remarkable generation of piano masters. Just over four months separate his birth from that of Matthew Shipp (December 7, 1960) - whose The Piano Equation inaugurated the TAO For…
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 that radiates both urgency and gravitas.
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 improvisation, the album reimagines not only electronic and jazz vocabularies but also notions of time and agency, rendering a shifting landscape where each moment is both calculated and unexpected.
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 seems to create and erase the space it inhabits.
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 philosophy and European avant-piano traditions, achieving a deep equilibrium between motion, meditation, and melodic abstraction.
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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 copper plating on the interior giving the piano and strange and magical resonance. Nyahh Records is very grateful and excited to be able to share this performance with the world and to have Pat Thomas added to our list of artists.
Pat Thomas (b1960) s…
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 Arabic word for healing and the music they make aspires to do just that.
This album follows their acclaimed, Downbeat 4-star debut ‘Shifa Live at Cafe Oto’. Listen to ‘Shifa Live in Oslo’ and discover contemporary master musicians celebrating the mo…
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 saxophonist John Dikeman (When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) is accompanied by a group of UK-based music masters: pianist Pat Thomas, a 577 Records mainstay (Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess…
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 Steve Noble on Drums, the four artists play generously together. Fathom is an impressive work of avant-garde jazz that’s reminiscent of the non-musical world: squeaky wheels, growing tension, a babbling brook, all winding into lush harmonies. This ma…
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 he told me a few years back: "What got me so interested in the type of improvising I ended up really spending time on was, at least at a personal level, there was a feeling you could start from scratch. Now you might well be mistaken, and rediscover…
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 musicians in different contexts, but Unlockings documents a first-of-its-kind quartet line-up.
"I wanted a new combination, but made of players I’d worked with over the years" says Butcher. "Choosing is probably 75 % about the player and 25 % about t…
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 distinguished approach to modern music. It immerses us in an almost 3D listening experience that creatively melds texture, depth, and mental stimulation.
“Imagine an Alternative Universe where JDilla and Morton Feldman collaborate: this is the result,” Pat …
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 recordings and brilliantly transcribed by Chris Burn, which he had sent me, I was inter-ested in the challenge and the obvious contradiction of performing free improvisationsas compostions, especially Derek’s, knowing his view on the use of transcriptio…
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.
![اسم [ism] – Maua](https://cdn.soundohm.com/data/products/2025-11/maua-ism-577-min-1-jpg.jpg.250.jpg)
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 unexpected twists and turns, suggested the name. The healing, in this case, is a raw, unfettered musical space where he, saxophonist Rachel Musson and drummer Mark Sanders meet and make music in the moment, of the moment. Each player values the others…
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 willingness to collaborate openly with European improvisers as well as being part of the American tradition was an attractive template to follow.Pat Thomas, Dominic Lash and Tony Orrell grew up in the UK with the children’s tv series Play School and whe…
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 and 577 mainstay Pat Thomas, drummer Luke Reddin-Williams and Sharkey would go on stage to play for the first time together, having discussed and planned nothing. The improvisation, a gamble, worked. Recorded in one 50-minute track, one album, the pr…
![Ahmed – [AHAD]/[WAHID]](https://cdn.soundohm.com/data/products/2022-12/-AHAD-jpg.jpg.250.jpg)
[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 Imagination at Café OTO, Dalston, London.
Seated at our favourite table, the cheeseboard, me and my good friend John witnessed the telepathy and synchronicity between Pat Thomas, Joel Grip, Antonin Gerbal and Seymour Wright. Intensity, energy, raw power and…
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 of bass heavy jungle breaks, which are intersected with vocal and orchestral samples, and layers of percussion rotating at varying time signatures. It’s in this fashion that the album seems to present itself: in layers. Thomas identified jungle’s w…
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 (13,331 words) together they reflect on, and take inspiration from, the late pianist, composer, poet Cecil Taylor. On 12 August 2018, as part of a Cafe OTO tribute to the recently deceased Taylor, the trio perform live a 'version' of The Cecil Taylor Un…
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 frenetic musical environment. Captured live at Cafe Oto in London, Pat Thomas (Piano, Electronics), Raymond Strid (Drums) and Sture Ericson (Tenor, Soprano Saxophones) assemble fragmented sounds in haphazard, creative and thrilling directions. After years …
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 musicians for an improvised performance at London’s Cafe Oto on a successful “educated guess.” Organized around a shared appreciation for improvisation and experimentation, that show resulted in the release of a two volume set.
The first volume is a…
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 accumulated while learning something new; pedal steel superhero Susan Alcorn recounts a battle with injury; composer Jack Langdon offers Sound American's second fiction offering, a story of how the pandemic affects a fictional musician, presenter, and…
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 sets the quintet are infectiously energetic and inspired, striding from synchronised heavy groove to star bright solos, whilst incorporating dub effects, guimbri and sumptuous blues piano playing.
Formed by Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas but always real…
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. Together the two speak; locked grooves and neat switchbacks on the keys form dialogue with long deliberate lines on the alto, punctuated by Roberts’ ecstatic vocalisations.
The trio of improvised pieces which make up the record’s first side are ric…
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 – Knottings
disc 4 – Kay Grant / Alex Ward – Seven Cities
"On this evidence, 'Making Rooms' already seems certain to feature prominently in many an end-of-year list of best releases. Yes, a future classic." — All About Jazz
"'Making Rooms' has a connect…