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ARTIST
TITLE
The Solar Model of Ibn-Al Shatir
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
ROKU 040CD ROKU 040CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
4/11/2025

Pat Thomas returns to OTOROKU for his fourth collection of solo piano improvisations, this time recorded in a studio setting at London's Fish Factory. For 25 years now, beginning with Nur (Emanem) and continuing through Al-Khwarizmi Variations (Fataka), The Elephant Clock of Al-Jazari (ROKU 019LP), and now The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir, Pat Thomas has drawn on the Arabic world for titles for his solo piano work -- specifically the long-standing Islamic tradition of astronomical invention. For Thomas, the work of the polymaths he dedicates his music to has been sidelined by Eurocentrism, just as the Arabic origin of "jass" and the scalar, intervallic and polyphonic contributions made by Arab musicians have been routinely overlooked. Islamic innovation is at the heart of Thomas' solo projects and draws a direct link between his Sufi faith and a totally unique style of playing. Each of his solo piano records is a dedication -- not just to the innovators Thomas names but to the beauty of the universe in all its complexities. Starting standing up with one hand inside the piano and one on the keys, "The Solar Model" begins with single staccato bass notes appearing like chondrites in the darkness, occasionally tumbling towards a rhythm and then falling out of it. Metallic string work starts to pull towards an unseen center and eventually notes from the upper registers appear, clear and light. With both hands drawn to the keys, Thomas builds towards scintillating beauty, carried through "The Laws of Motion" and propelling listeners towards the A-side closer, "For George Saliba". The whole landscape of the A side swings with this one movement, until its energy is spent on one last sweeping rotation. On the B-side, "The Oud of Ziryab" notes to the instrument maker who added a fifth pair of strings to the Oud. The single bass notes of the first side are swapped for clusters, bursting together and decaying in space. Making use of the sustain pedal and the silence of a studio setting, it's one of the most open, lush recordings of Thomas at the piano -- more Muhal Richard Abrams than Monk, the lower end thundering under rapid, crystalline blues. "For Mansa Musa" brings back a swing instantly recognizable as Pat, with a huge euphoric lift halfway that crowns the record but the album's end title "The Birds are Singing" is more celestial, more chromatic -- a reminder that the spiritual matters just as much as the physical for Thomas.