Thollem McDonas

Thollem McDonas is a composer, pianist, improviser, teacher and writer. He was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area of Irish and Cherokee descent. At the age of five, he began studying the keyboard repertoire from the medieval to the 20th century and studied with many notable teachers including Aiko Onishi and Lou Harrison. After graduating with degrees in both piano performance and composition, he dedicated his 20s and 30s to grassroots political activism. In 2005, he refocused his attention on a breadth of musics that incorporate his myriad experiences and curiosities. In this last decade alone, he has played well over 1,000 concerts throughout North America and Europe as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of musicians, dancers, and filmmakers. As leader or co-leader, he has released almost 50 albums in that span on 19 different vanguard labels to international critical acclaim. “Thollem is an astounding pianist who understands the huge scope of the instrument” (Terry Riley) and who continues to delve into the furthest reaches and sub-genres of Post-Classical, Free Jazz, Noise, Punk, dance and film. A brief cross section of his many recent collaborators include William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, Stefano Scodanibbio, Nels Cline, Mike Watt, Martha Colburn and Matthew Barney.

Thollem has worked within many communities throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. With workshops that culminate in performances by the participants, he has had the opportunity to live and work among a diversity of artists. As a guest composer and teacher, he maintains that the highlight of his career thus far was a project with a full youth orchestra in an economically-challenged town outside of Oaxaca City, Mexico, guiding them in a week-long workshop of structured improvisational techniques. They successfully performed a cohesive and spontaneously composed concert in Oaxaca City at Teatro San Miguel, without a conductor or music stands, to the delight of the audience and their own Maestro.  In 2012, Thollem was invited to the Rassegna di Nuova Musica in Macerata, Italy, by its director, the late Stefano Scodanibbio. He was asked to compose a piano quartet specifically for three of the greatest living Italian string players Francesco Dillon, Daniele Roccato and Marco Rogliano, and presented the piece in the festival that February.

In 2009, Thollem founded Estamos Ensemble, made up equally of musicians from Mexico and the U.S., with the intention to foster more communication and collaboration between musicians of these two bordering countries as well as a better understanding of and appreciation for the citizens of the two countries in general. After recording at Sony Studios in Mexico City and performing in the International Festival in Puebla, he gathered Estamos Ensemble for a week-long residency in San Francisco as well as invited great composers from both sides of the border to compose pieces for the group. The compositions, premiered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2010, were written by Ana Lara (MX), Nels Cline (US), Juan Felipe Waller (MX), Pauline Oliveros (US), Joan Jeanrenaud (US), Vinny Golia (US), Jorge Torres Sáenz (MX), and William Parker (US). For this project, Thollem composed “Stirring Awake”, for which he received the American Music Center: CAP award. 

In 2008, he was invited to perform the late works of Claude Debussy on the piano on which they were written, as well as his own compositions with Italian contrabassist Stefano Scodanibbio. The resulting album, On Debussy's Piano And..., is the first recording of the only piano Debussy owned the final fourteen years of his life. In 2006, Thollem was commissioned by The Limón Dance Company for a large-scale piece in commemoration of their 50th year anniversary.

As a writer, Thollem has composed songs for his punk band that speak out against the injustices of war, encouraging listeners to think of myriad aspects of Life and their role in It. He was invited by Pauline Oliveros to contribute an essay to An Anthology of Essays On Deep Listening (May, 2012). Deep Listening and the Peripatetic Life of an Improvising Musician was written specifically for this collection. In 2013, he was invited to write six columns for Full Moon Magazine (Prague). He presently reviews adventurous music by Native American artists for First American Art Magazine (New Mexico).

As a pianist, Thollem performs in theaters, art galleries, universities, elementary schools, concert halls, jazz clubs, rock clubs, festivals, warehouses, house concerts, streets, forests, riots and on television, radio and the internet. He has performed piano concertos with symphonies, played in West African drumming troupes, Javanese gamelan ensembles, punk bands, free improv ensembles, and regularly collaborates as a composer/improviser for film and modern dance.

An extension of Picoas Project with Angela C Villa, Thollem is presently working on a documentary film about artistic engagement in activism and community-building, the footage and monologues of which he has gathered along his extensive travels and collaborations.

Musical collaborators include:  Stefano Scodanibbio, Mike Watt, Nels Cline, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Amy Denio, Arrington de Dionyso, John Dieterich, LaDonna Smith, Faruq Z. Bey, Vinny Golia, Ava Mendoza, Tatsuya Nakatani, Rent Romus, Jacopo Andreini, Gino Robair, Jon Raskin, Joel Peterson, Alex Cline, Theresa Wong, Jack Wright, Greg Saunier, Laura Ortman, John Butcher

Collaborations with film makers include: Martha Colburn, Matthew Barney, Peter Sparling, Tuia Cherici, Carlos Sandoval, David Latreille and Marcos Sánchez D.

Collaborations with dancers and dance companies include: Germaul Barnes (Bitahkiz Ayeli), Gary Masters, Limón West Dance Company, Peter Sparling, Viewsic Expressions, Black Bones, San José Cleveland Ballet

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Album Reviews

Meeting At The Parting Place by Francesca Odilia Bellino
Meeting At The Parting Place by Dave Wayne
Emergency Management Heist by Glenn Astarita

Interviews

Thollem McDonas: The Beauty of Never Going Back Home

Album Reviews

The Gowanus Session by AAJ Italy Staff
The Gowanus Sessions by Glenn Astarita
Noble Art by AAJ Italy Staff

November 19, 2014

Jazz This Week: Jeff Coffin and the Mu'tet, Peter Martin, Funky Butt...

May 11, 2012

Thollem McDonas to Perform Wednesday, May 23 at Laumeier Sculpture Park

”One of the most captivating pianists working today” — Rui Eduardo Paes, Jazz.pt (Portugal)

“fearless experimentation…super-human handwork” – Brad Cohan, New York City Jazz Record

“McDonas is half pianist, half hurricane” — Steve Holtje, Culture Catch

“A particularly powerful voice” — David Keenan, The Wire (England)

“An intense and virtuosic keyboardist” —Time Out New York

“Transforms 88 keys into a texturally staggering ensemble.” - Detroit Metro Times

“McDonas is known for his rapturous solo piano work which transgresses genre boundaries as much as it transcends them

”One of the most captivating pianists working today” — Rui Eduardo Paes, Jazz.pt (Portugal)

“fearless experimentation…super-human handwork” – Brad Cohan, New York City Jazz Record

“McDonas is half pianist, half hurricane” — Steve Holtje, Culture Catch

“A particularly powerful voice” — David Keenan, The Wire (England)

“An intense and virtuosic keyboardist” —Time Out New York

“Transforms 88 keys into a texturally staggering ensemble.” - Detroit Metro Times

“McDonas is known for his rapturous solo piano work which transgresses genre boundaries as much as it transcends them. And while his solo piano oeuvre is remarkable for its stylistic breadth and depth, McDonas has more pure technical ability than most musicians would know what to do with.” — Dave Wayne, AllAboutJazz NY

“Thollem McDonas does what few can: He combines extreme imagination with terrific post-classical chops and an ability to communicate through melody a fresh, disciplined avant-pianist with an attractively extreme viewpoint.” - Greg Burk, LA Weekly

“Thollem dives headlong into fascinating unforeseen and bold musical adventures that make him one of the most interesting pianists of the current improvised music genre...the result is the natural consequence of being intrinsically eclectic at heart. “  - Eduardo Chagas, TomaJazz (Portugal)

“With McDonas we are faced with overflowing and irrepressible exuberance.” - AllAboutJazz (Italy)

“Pianist Thollem McDonas solo piano set touched on virtually every genre of music. Dressed in a t-shirt, cargo slacks, and old work boots, McDonas didn’t have the disposition or attitude of a music virtuoso. He looked more like a skilled laborer. But he constructed a set of improvised music that had all the creativity and energy of Thelonious Monk and Igor Stravinsky playing at a neighborhood jam session.” - I DIG JAZZ - Charles L. Latimer's Jazz Journal

“Thollem McDonas is simply one of the great improvisers of today.”  - The Detroiter

“Thollem has that rare gift of soulful equilibrium, which he alternates with digital dexterities that have few equals on the current scene.” - Massimo Ricci, TouchingExtremes (Italy)

“The playing of McDonas is not only of a high technical standard, but also very communicative. His music is drenched in many musical traditions, and McDonas succeeds in making an original brew of it.” - Dolf Mulder, Vital Weekly (Holland)

“His sound ecosystem is wet, like a rain forest dripping with life and death: shadowed in darkness but nourished by hot sunlight, teeming with crouching predators and bright birds exploding from the trees, their raucous bellows resonating and echoing through hollow canyons and caverns choked with chordal undergrowth. It’s a crowded place.” - Tom Djll, Signal To Noise

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Credentials/Background

Over the years, as a teacher, Thollem has worked with musicians and non-musicians alike in a wide variety of approaches and techniques through private lessons and large ensembles, in music conservatories, high school concert bands, with developmentally disabled adults and children, the incarcerated, the elderly, youth symphonies and chamber ensembles. He has been traveling perpetually for years working within communities throughout North America and Europe, collaborating with a wide array of musicians, dancers, filmmakers, writers, poets, and painters. Thollem grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, the son of the dedicated and inspiring piano teacher, Geraldine Simons. He began teaching private and group piano and theory lessons when he was 13 years old. Thollem is available on-line and in person for one-on-one and small group instruction. Subjects include: * piano technique * music history/appreciation *the creative process * listening * improvisation as a way of life * composition * collaboration * career development

Clinic/Workshop Information

Primary Instrument

Piano

Credentials/Background

Clinic/Workshop Information

The following can be booked as individual seminars or combined to form an integrated ensemble collaboration workshop, perhaps culminating in a performance by the participants. Sound/Listening Listening without playing, utilizing our voices and sounding naturally existing objects, we explore the elements that define differences of sound and our perception of them: timbre, acoustical properties of a space/environment, consistent and periodic sounds, nuances of dynamics, etc. 2 hours - 3 days Collaborative Process Often beginning with a group of otherwise disparate individuals, together we create a group identity with an inclusive spirit that encourages all to participate as equal individuals. 6 - 8 hours Career Development Organizing tours, designing a web-site, working with labels, writing grants, residencies and more 3 hours Spontaneous Composition Creating music as an individual or a group without a musical score/conductor, deepening insight into musical building blocks, taking responsibility for individual creativity and support of others. 6 hours Lecture/Performance "He performed briefly on the piano, and then talked about his musical development, training and interests, along with some of his notable performance experiences around the world, his recording projects, and his life in general as an entrepreneurial free-lance musician. He also demonstrated some of his improvisation techniques. The session was thoroughly enjoyable and engaging." - Jonathan McNair, UT-Chattanooga 1 - 3 hours

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