Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Ron Thomas: 17 Solo Piano Improvisations

438

Ron Thomas: 17 Solo Piano Improvisations

By

Sign in to view read count
Ron Thomas: 17 Solo Piano Improvisations
Music is the language of sound, of vibrations; and hence, at a basic level, of physics. The history of Western music is an effort to understand and control how these vibrations interact and relate to each other, always with an ear towards how they affect the listener. Music's emotional affect on us is its greatest mystery.

Pianist Ron Thomas' 17 Solo Piano Improvisations is an exploration of certain features of the music of Franz Liszt, as they connect to the work of Debussy, Bartok, Schoenberg, Ligeti and Stockhausen. The connection to jazz comes from the fact that jazz has compressed 1,000 years of harmonic history into 100, and, for some players, has arrived at the same point.

These improvisations start where those of Wings of the Morning (Vectordisc, 2007) end, in that the overt romanticism of the earlier works has been abstracted and extended. However, the pieces share an extremely strong sense of control combined with the searching intelligence that was evident before. Definitions of consonance and dissonance; tension and release; preparation and arrival; and resolution and surprise are overturned and shattered, but then put back together. The concepts of tonality and melody are questioned and challenged, but then answered by each piece in its own way.

Be clear that these improvised pieces are not academic exercises, but rather highly charged, deeply emotional and spellbinding creations. They take one's breath away as they unfold, each with its own internal logic, carrying the listener to many unexpected places.

The pieces are not named, which is probably a good thing, since we are then allowed to make our own connections. It really does not matter if your knowledge of the classical music of this period is limited—although like most everything, pleasure will be increased when the new can be related to the known. With most of the tracks being under three minutes, they feel taut and dense with no rambling.

While each listener will get different things out of these wonderful pieces, what is incontrovertible is Thomas' improvisatory ability. This is something that has been lost in the classical world and it takes a musician comfortable in both the jazz and classical worlds to bring it back.

The figure of Lizst looms large in Thomas' development, both in his place in musical history and, more importantly, in artistic attitude. Thomas firmly believes that for a creative work (in this case, music) to rise to the level of art, the artist must find out what its intrinsic properties are and then work within the limitations thus defined to bring them out.

In his view, style has nothing to do with an artwork's merit and thus he reinforces, without saying so, the concept that jazz is an aesthetic attitude and not a style. These pieces stand outside of time, and are truly wondrous to hear—many times over.

Track Listing

1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17.

Personnel

Ron Thomas: piano.

Album information

Title: 17 Solo Piano Improvisations | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Vectordisc Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
Candid
Sunny Five
Inside Colours Live
Julie Sassoon

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.