Thollem has two new additions to his Astral Traveling series out now via Austin’s Astral Spirits label. The 25-album collection documents the musician’s improvised performances with a multi-varied host of players from around the US during his prolific travels in 2019. July’s installment includes two live performances, Thollem / Rova Saxophone Quartet and Thollem / Portland Improvisers.
The Rova Saxophone Quartet is closely associated with the Center for New Music in San Francisco, where this performance was recorded on August 1st of 2019 by Brent Miller. On this particular evening, Thollem performed on piano with Bruce Ackley on soprano saxophone, Jon Raskin on baritone saxophone, Larry Ochs on tenor, and sopranino saxophone, as well as Steve Adams on laptop electronics and Shnth. The resulting performance is a voluble interaction between the players. Combustive, and at times harried, but never quite contentious, by set’s end, the player’s contented truce seems the result of each having “spoken their piece.”
Thollem / Portland Improvisers was recorded on August 10th at Turn Turn Turn in Portland, OR. The evening honored the passing of bassist André St. James, a revered local musician. Additionally, it raised money for Bravo Youth Orchestras; a Portland-based nonprofit St. James worked for connecting young people to musical opportunities.
The performance that evening found Thollem on synth playing with a wide host of musicians, including a longtime collaborator, the drummer Tim DuRoche. The two had played with St. James on the 2018 ESP-Disk release Live In Our Time. In addition, the performance finds the two playing with bassist Andrew Jones, vocalist Aurora Josephson, and the saxophonists Ralph Thomas, John Gross, and John Savage, who also plays the flute. Additionally, Alissa DeRubeis performs on a modular synthesizer, with synth player Scott Looney joining Thollem on the Waldorf Blofeld. The result is mercurial and eclectic, balancing the need for introspection with an energized inquiry into the occult sources of sound via the musician’s spontaneous communal participation.
