thollem mcdonas - solo piano (pax)

pax recordings in label from san francisco concentrated on improv sound. and as all previous this one is improve as well but this time dedicated fully to solo piano as name tells itself. thollem mcdonas is san francisco bay area composer and pianist that has enjoyed his performances covered much of the north american continent and some in europe. he has performed as a soloist as well with groups and he is founding member of several innovative ensembles including: ‘the hundredth monkey generation’, ‘monk and cage’, and ‘asterisk* movement and sound’. currently he is performing as a soloist, as well as with the drummer rick rivera (thollem/rivera), the amino trio, developing a participatory sound experience called the makesoundarium, and scoring a play about pavel florensky, an influential communist era russian scientist. this album is a long series of short compositions/improvisations for solo piano, that was a collection of thollem's ideas from the last five years, previously unpublished, others re-realized, recorded in two hours on march 18th, 2005. this material is not much experimental as sound as previous pax recordings improv releases but its still experimental in its approach. personally im not so much into contemporary classical music and piano sound but this release can be somehow interesting in its constant changes and unexpected shifts. changes of mood are also present giving idea of authors mindscapes and interactions with the world. all the time moods and approaches are skipping around, starting from a different idea or temper and ending to another. as i said not so interesting but still worth checking.