2005: Thollem Rivera

Thollem McDonas: piano/voice
Rick Rivera: drums

Thollem Rivera, San Francisco Bay Area composer/pianist/vocalist, has enjoyed success in a wide variety of musical situations and his travels as a performer have covered much of the North American Continent and some in Europe. He has performed extensively as a soloist as well with groups. He is a founding member of several innovative ensembles including: ‘The Hundredth Monkey Generation’, ‘Monk and Cage’, and ‘Asterisk* Movement and Sound’. He was commissioned by ‘The Limon Dance Company’ for a large scale composition in commemoration of their 50th year anniversary. He is responsible, in full or in part, for many albums of original music. Currently he is performing as a soloist, with the duo Thollem/Rivera, developing a participatory sound experience called the MakeSoundArium, And scoring a play about Pavel Florensky, an influential Communist era russian scientist and the gulag where he was eventually executed.

A native of Boston, MA, Rick Rivera began playing drums at the age of thirteen. Later, he joined his high school’s jazz band which provided him with various performance opportunities throughout the U.S. After graduation, Rick went on to study music formally with Bob Gullotti. During his 5-year apprenticeship with Bob, Rick performed at the Willow Jazz Club, Wally’s and Berklee College of Music and was a first-call session drummer for some of Boston’s finest musician’s, including Jane Wang, John Aruda, Jeff Rorback and Russell Fortunato. After completing his studies with Bob, Rick went on to pursue jazz across two continents, teaching and performing in Boston, Hawaii, and Japan. While in Japan, Rick appeared at such notable venues as Body and Soul, Live Inn Pier and Shinjuku Pit Inn. He co-led the Monk Tribute Band, alongside Natori Toshihiko, and powered the Mineko Ogata Trio and Hisashi Nakajima Quartet with his traditional and experimental jazz drumming style. Now a resident of San Francisco, Rick continues his pursuit of jazz and experimental music with top musicians in the Bay Area.

Artist (photo by Photographer)