PAT THOMAS レコード& CD

Review: Pianist Pat Thomas has been an integral part of the British jazz scene for the best part of 25 years. In that time, he's performed with and alongside countless scene stalwarts, rising stars and experimental fusionists. The Elephant Clock of Al Jazari is his first solo album since 2013's Al-Khwarizmi Variations, and takes a similarly improvised approach. Yet while Thomas's previous free-jazz piano improvisations have tended to result in relatively short pieces, the four tracks here are notably lengthier. This merely offers Thomas an opportunity to showcase the full depth of his impressive piano-playing skills, while delivering jaunty, all-action pieces that refuse to settle on one riff, motif or rhythmic sequence. The results are hugely entertaining and surprisingly evocative, despite the album's formidable free-jazz approach.