Ken Thomson
Ken Thomson (clarinet and bass clarinet) is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own. He has a growing catalog of music written for ensembles of differing sizes, and has toured with and released a number of albums with groups that he has created. His bands “Sextet,” and, before that, “Slow/Fast,” combine the sounds of jazz and contemporary music in through-composed small-group settings; with them, he has released multiple acclaimed recordings and toured across the US and Europe. Two recordings of his chamber music are also available - “Restless” with Karl Larson and Ashley Bathgate, and “Thaw” with JACK Quartet. With the newly-formed Anzû Quartet, he has recorded his own work as well as Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, for release in 2022. He is also active as a freelance clarinetist and saxophonist, performing with Ensemble Signal, International Contemporary Ensemble, Novus, and more. He is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute; he endorses D'Addario Woodwinds reeds, F. Arthur Uebel clarinets and Yanagisawa saxophones (Conn-Selmer). Ken currently splits his time between Brooklyn and Berlin. www.ktonline.net.
