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Blacks’ Myths Meets Pat Thomas, A MythStory (abridged)

Berlin, 2017. Black Top meets Jean-Paul Bourelly at A-Trane. We walked through the door. The genesis of Blacks’ Myths had been established, as experience was leading in the way that the Music Takes You. Meeting the Masters, far away from home. A Meeting of the Masters, veterans convening. West meets East-West. Black Top’s legendary duo on the European Continent meets an American expatriate in Berlin. Everyone working for Freedom through the Music. Our presence catalyzed the moment further, the meeting of generations. The layers of parallel experiences in the saga of the stolen-African diaspora guided by the Universe of serendipitous circumstance. Immense Inspiration for the work to be done, serving the Music and the reason for being There.

2018 - Fellowship through the Sonic Cosmos: Irreversible Entanglements meets Pat Thomas in a series of formative performances. Back to London for a meeting that produced vibrations everlasting. The solo piano quickly leads to collaboration, a lesson in the Music as we absorb the shared experience, at long last. Later in the year, in the Dutch sister-nation, Masters of a different sort. The Music provided a strategy, lessons in liberation from the shackles of the mega-festival. The privileged platform is accompanied by chains. We break them by Being, together. The Sound elevated by the weight of Pat’s interaction, propelling the ensemble through the set, energized for the long night.

5 years and a Pandemic later, Blacks’ Myths comes to the UK. Full Circle, Meeting with the Masters. Blacks’ Myths meets Black Top. West meets East-West, once again. The passing of the torch, the sharing of experience and perspective. From the Expansion, back to the Root. The piano trio has been a standard in the tradition of jazz. Blacks’ Myths mines this tradition with every set with intentional motion. Rather than the duo’s usual electronic explorations, this album delves into the acoustic jazz side of their experience. Trae and Luke met on the DC Jazz scene in the mid-2000s and since then the relationship has continued to develop across multiple ensembles, through the fires of depth full experiences. The journey to Pat Thomas took many years and milestones, but the planets aligned finally for this recording.

This Music is as vital as the expression of the World. This document of a deeply meaningful experience is shared with humility and love. We hope you enjoy.

- Luke Stewart

NYC/DC-based musician and organizer.