I am mourning and celebrating my musical mentor, Carei Thomas. Meeting him at age 20, in 1978 was a turning point in the trajectory of my life. He was 20 years older, and yet we were the same age… Him a Leo with a Gemini moon, I a Gemini with a Leo moon. We would talk so fast that we couldn’t even keep up with each other. I miss him so much, and we talk every day. Carei left this planet on May 28th , 2020. He left a huge impact on many people, musicians, artists, regular people. He encouraged me to juxtapose ANYTHING, and that Creating Combos is an integral part of the compositional process.

I have been studying his works intensely for the past few years, digging into his chordal language, form, melodic sense, collaborations,and how he pulled it all off. Stay tuned.

from LIner notes to a concert

If there was a Venn Diagram comparing Carei Thomas and myself, the intersection of our commonalities would far outweigh our differences. When we met in 1978 it was the first time I met someone with the same random temperament, sense of excitement and wonder, who was not limited by shallow definitions He encouraged me when both the hippie and the jazz community were standoffish and exclusive.

We became collaborators, confidants,and close friends until Carei’s death in 2020. I still think of him every day. Two important concepts I learned from his example are:

First: Juxtapose, combine ANYTHING! and Secondly: Ensemble creation is an integral part of the compositional process.

Carei was influenced by everything he read, experienced, art he saw, people he knew, poetry, and created new, personal sub genres. Some of the “major constellations in his sky” include Juan Miro,Wassily Kandinsky, Muddy Waters, Dufay, Mauchaut, Lorca, local dancers, John Minczeski, Roy McBride, J. Otis Powell!, Film Noir characters, Mal Waldron, Chopin, the double helix, Morse code, and many too numerous to name.

Carei believed that “creating the ensemble is an essential part of the compositional process”. Rather than being tied to one ensemble, Carei cultivated “musical friendships” with dozens of creative people: seasoned jazz improvisors, virtuoso classical players, skilled folkloric musicians, as well as beginning and semi experienced musicians.

What was important was the musicians “life condition” -their heart and intent and willingness to celebrate each other’s strengths. He called these collections “Neighborhoods”.

Besides being Buddhists, we both have/had ADD, and didn’t finish our music degrees, but learned as much as we could about sound, art and the world. I arranged 3 of Carei’s compositions from his 320-page book (175 compositions) called “Compositions and Concepts”. Published 2010. I wish you could have known him.