اسم  [ism]: Maua

Where would the world be without the clang and the clamor of sensory heightened free-jazz blowing purposeful and wild throughout the realm and surrounding tenements? This is an unsung understanding understood by fellow wayfarers, handed down by the elders and experienced by all who listen.

Pianist Pat Thomas understands all this and reassures you of it on the right rollicking Maua, a tight as a snare drum, free jazz free-for-all that does not get on your nerves halfway through. Maua buzzes from the beginning and buzzes throughout with a sweet and slinky kinetics all its very own. The forty minute title track is all one needs to hear: a whiplash, thumbnail history of the music itself. Part Art Tatum, Jaki Byard, Cecil Taylor, and, daresay Satoko Fujii and/orHiromi, Thomas almost singlehandedly brings them all to the table, in his own obstinate, yet massively enjoyable style.

But saying almost singlehandedly might imply a solo performance from Thomas and that is hardly the case. Bassist Joel Grip and drummer Antonin Gerbal far more than just earn their take of the night's gate. They sweep up Thomas in their runaway energy and tenacious interlock. Exhibit A to that statement is the twenty-two minute mark and forward of Maua's namesake track. They put on a master class of rhythmic legends, Roy Brown and Ed Thigpen; Walter Page and Jo Jones; Ron Carter and Tony Williams et al. Their eye-of-the-storm force takes control and at times makes Thomas either command or surrender to the live situation they found themselves in one night in Berlin, May 21, 2022.

Fortunately, the metro pulse of Maua does not stop there. "'Niloo's Dream," a wonder of the collective, total mind, brings us back to ballroom and slow dancing. Women in chiffon and men at the ready to light a cigarette, buy a drink, bust a smooth move. It is the exact opposite of the title track, yet a most fitting way to end the night.