{"id":11515,"date":"2025-11-05T07:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=11515"},"modified":"2025-11-05T07:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:31:09","slug":"review-hikmah-pat-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-hikmah-pat-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Pat Thomas\u2019 \u2018Hikmah\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hikmah<\/em> (TAO Forms) is the solo album from [Ahmed]<\/a>\u2019s virtuoso pianist Pat Thomas, whom Matthew Shipp<\/a> has identified in his recent book as among the Black Mystery School Pianists<\/em>. While Thomas may be in that school, his playing bears only a few similarities to his contemporary, Shipp. Thomas\u2019s music is seemingly more spiritually focused. As a person deeply devoted to Sufism, he sees the practice and performance of music as an elemental form of spiritual practice. Thomas also uses almost every aspect of the piano. As William Parker<\/a> notes in the album\u2019s liner notes, Thomas plays with his hands, feet, and body on top of and inside the piano. Sometimes he also adds electronics, bringing messages from the past, present, and future. He is also worldly conscious, incorporating music from Africa and Asia in his work. In an interview with Daniel Spicer of Jazzwise magazine, Thomas referred to the piano as \u201cbasically a zither with keys\u201d  and proceeded to both reference an Arabic instrument called a kanun and attribute jazz percussion, especially the snare and cymbal, to the Ottoman Empire. Yes, Thomas is a deep thinker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hikmah<\/em>, meaning \u201cwisdom,\u201d opens its title track with the pianist’s right hand dancing at dizzying speeds while his left pounds dense, powerful chords. Parker\u2019s description of the piece is beautiful -\u201c[it] reminds me of being in a cave where crystals of solid light fall in and sound becomes color.\u201d His fascination with percussion is exemplified in \u201cFor Joe Gallivan,\u201d dedicated to one of the unsung heroes of modern drumming. Close your eyes, and you can easily equate this to a drum solo on the piano. Listen again, and it might sound like a joyous Latin dance. The piece is simultaneously free and controlled, with Thomas never straying too far from repeating the driving motif that holds the piece together.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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