Seeing Pat Thomas with his [Ahmed] quartet earlier this year was a revelation. The latest release of this prolific composer and improviser, HIKMAH, is a very different type of album. However, it maintains the exploratory energy and creative intensity that made his live performances so compelling.
Here, it is just Thomas on piano improvising his way through eight short-to-medium length tracks. Equally informed by classical music, jazz, and the experimental, Thomas plays with a percussive and angular style replete with irregular timings and unexpected chording. But he also has a playful side that peers out around the corners from time to time.
Thomas’s works come across as introspective and reflective, not because he follows…

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