An Evening with Tom Skinner

Upon the release of Kaleidoscopic Visions, the second album that Tom Skinner has made under his own name, the drummer-composer will be 45 years-old. Skinner is already in possession of an incredible career—two decades as a key member of London’s jazz community, including co-founding the mighty Sons of Kemet; in-demand collaborator to famed electronic producers and noted rhythmalists; purveyor of his own left-of-center musical pursuits; and, most recently, a budding experimental-rock star.

The Kaleidoscopic Visions that form Skinner’s view from the bridge between his past and future take all these roles and details into account. On his bandleader debut, 2022’s star-studded quintet piece Voices of Bishara, Skinner used Abdul Wadud 1978 solo cello masterpiece By Myself as inspiration for an album of post-session edits; Kaleidoscopic Visions leans into “more personal,” fully composed pieces, interpreted by his band’s improvised choices, a timeline of life reconciled in his creative subconscious. 

Almost accidentally (but not really), Skinner’s Kaleidoscopic Visions chronicles the importance of considering the view from the middle of one’s own life, taking stock alongside memories and family, heroes and friends new and old. Its beauty is not extreme but expert, outside of crisis but informed by it, a document of what the feelings, here and now, sound like.

Tom Skinner Website
(Ticket Includes 5% City of Santa Cruz Admission Tax)