Thollem McDonas

"Unclassifiable and extraordinarily equipped, a travel through disparate musics. Thollem McDonas redefines the concept of performance in solo pianoforte".
- All About Jazz, Italia

SHORT BIO:

Thollem McDonas (pianist, composer, improviser) was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area Feb. 23rd, 1967 of Irish and Cherokee descent. Not long after birth he began his musical explorations, playing the keyboard musics from the Rennaissance through the 20th century. He has toured across much of North America and Europe and released many albums through many labels. His music is diverse, each album exploring wildly different paths. He has played in gamelan ensembles, African drumming troupes, punk bands, improv duets+, in abandoned warehouses, jazz clubs, rock clubs, concert halls, houses, gardens, and riots.
His music is intellectual and playful and sexual and meditative and ferocious and athletic and revolutionary and spiritual and political and loving and that shakes people awake, starting with him first...He's touring perpetually.
To listen to samples of his upcoming solo piano album for Saravah:
SoMuchHeaven SoMuchHell
To check out his vocal music:
ThollemCanción
"...the result is the natural consequence of being intrinsically eclectic at heart. His inventiveness is facilitated by his highly developed virtuosity." - Eduardo Chagas, TomaJazz, Portugal

DISCOGRAPHY:

NuclearBomb CavePainting
PoorStopKillingPoor
RacingTheSun ChasingTheSun
Everything'sGoingEverywhere
I'llMeetYouHalfWayOutInTheMiddleOfItAll
BloomQuartet
SonoContentoDiStareQua

LABELS:

CreativeSources
EdgetoneRecords
Pax Recordings
Saravah
CreativeSources
BurpProductions/Magnaphone
Palustre

NEW RECORDINGS:

SoMuchHeaven SoMuchHell
(Live solo recording in Nantes, France)
Lubuaku Quartet
(With Jacopo Andreini, Matteo Bennici, and Scott Rosenberg - Recorded in Forli, Italy)
Cosi/Franchini/McDonas Trio
(Recorded in Rimini, Italy)
Waristerror Terroriswar
(Anti-terror, Anti-war Album with Matteo Bennici, and Andrea Caprara)
Don'tBuyThis, LoveSongsForPeopleWhoDon'tBuyWhatThey'reSupposedTo
(A collage album of recorded but unreleased material from the age of 7 to 29)
Sono Contento Di Stare Qua After The War
(A second album of improvisations with Edoardo Ricci)

RECENT PERFORMANCES:

(France) Cherbourg, Lille, Lyon, Claremont-Ferrand, Nantes, Paris (Portugal) Lisbon, Porto (Italy) Bologna, Florence, Milan, Schio, Livorno, San Marino, Pisa, Savona, Meldola, Rimini, Ravenna, San Sepulcro, Pitigliano, Pistoia (Ireland) Dublin (Greece) Thessaloniki (Slovenia) Ljubljana (Mexico) Queretaro (USA) Kuumbwa Jazz Center (Santa Cruz), CenterForTheArts(LA), Bohemian National Home (Detroit), CalArts(LA), Iron Post (Urbana), The Tap Room (St. Louis), A/V Space (Rochester), BottomOfTheHill(SF), Zeitgeist Gallery (Boston), Holocene (Portland), Wombat Studios (NY), OldIronsides(Sacramento), Cafe Metropol (LA), C.O.M.A. @ ABC no Rio (NY), Berkeley Art Center, AVA Gallery (Astoria) KAOS radio(Olympia), Musicians' Union Hall(SF), KFJC radio(CA), KDHX (St. Louis), Gallery 1412 (Seattle), Santa Clara University(CA), Zebulons Lounge(SF), University Of Illinois, The Rickshawstop(SF), Big Sur Experimental Music Festival at The Henry Miller Library(CA), Olympia festival of Experimental Musics(WA), Berkeley Jazz House(CA), Luggage Store Gallery(SF), Day Musics' Auditorium, (Portland), 1510 8th St. Performance Space (Oakland), Dunes(Portland). Cryptonight Series(L.A.), Voz Alta(S.D.), EdgetoneSummit(Oakland), and many more...