Madad is a word with multiple meanings in Arabic—extend, support, and expand, to name a few. In this work, Pat Thomas uses his ABJAD notation system to embody these meanings in a new collaboration with the brilliant Stavanger-based Kitchen Orchestra.

Pat Thomas (born 1960 in Oxford) started playing the piano at the age of eight. He studied classical music but developed an early interest in reggae. After seeing the legendary pianist Oscar Peterson on TV at 16, Pat was inspired to explore jazz. By 1979, he was an active improviser, and throughout his career, he has played with renowned musicians such as Mike Cooper, Geoff Hawkins, Tony Oxley, Steve Beresford, Okkyung Lee, Matana Roberts, Moor Mother, and Luke Stewart, among others.

In addition to his solo work, he is active in groups including Black Top with Orphy Robinson, Scatter with Phil Minton, Roger Turner, and Dave Tucker, Shifa with Rachel Musson and Mark Sanders, Bleyschool with Tony Orrell and Dom Lash, Ahmed with Seymour Wright, Joel Grip, and Antonin Gerbal, a duo with Steve Noble, a trio with William Parker and Hamid Drake, and Bagman with Raymond Strid and Sture Ericson.

Pat received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for composers in 2014 and an unconditional $25,000 grant from the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation in 2022 in recognition of his unparalleled artistic career and contributions to improvised music.

By bringing together talented Stavanger-based musicians with international artists and composers for unique orchestral projects, Kitchen Orchestra breaks musical boundaries.

Through improvisation-based methods and collaborations with renowned orchestral leaders, Kitchen Orchestra has developed a sound and style that experiments with the relationship between the individual and the ensemble.

The orchestra has no permanent leader but instead collaborates with external or internal leaders to integrate its distinctive sound into various projects, create new music, and stretch its own flexibility.