Racer Session #181 | Thollem McDonas’ Everywhere Quintet | July 28, 2013
The Everywhere Quintet is an omni-idiomatic inclusive ensemble led by Thollem McDonas and performed by an entirely different group of musicians each time. It is ever-changing, based on the life experiences and personalities of the individual musicians participating in any given concert. Much the same as Non-idiomatic, Omni-idiomatic music allows for musicians and non-musicians from any part of the world to participate with each other immediately without discussion, to create something new in the moment together. However, the approach also encourages each musician to independently incorporate any and all of their musical experiences and interests as they wish while simultaneously listening and responding to their collaborators in the moment.
Consistently testing the boundaries of genre, Thollem has performed and released recordings with artists as disparate as Stefano Scodanibbio, Nels Cline, William Parker, Amy Denio, Mike Watt, Jad Fair, Brian Chase, and Pauline Oliveros among many other famous and underknown musicians. He has worked/played with youth orchestras, punk bands, string ensembles, free jazz groups, Gamelan ensembles, Ghanaian drumming troupes, film makers, theatrical productions and dancers. He is the founding director of Estamos Project which exists to help facilitate more collaboration among improvisers and composers across the Mexico/US border. For years he has been leading active listening as well as large ensemble improvisation and collaboration workshops in communities and conservatories, in the U.S. Mexico, Canada and many countries in Europe.
The Everywhere Quintet is a natural development of Thollem’s many paths as a serial collaborator and insatiably curious perpetually traveling musician. For the July 28th Racer Session, Thollem’s solo electric Wurlitzer performance will emphasize non-idiomatic playing to give listeners an ideal opportunity to hear these two approaches side by side.