Clayton Thomas

Double bassist · Catalyst for innovative music collectives · Initiator for community, experimentation, and solidarity

Clayton Thomas is a double bassist, curator, and a leading figure in the international free improvisation and experimental music scene. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, and now living on Gadigal Land (Sydney), he has spent over two decades working at the intersections of music, community, and cultural resistance. His practice is as radical as it is clear: to understand music as a collective, open act — a tool for exchange, care, spontaneity, and transformation.

Thomas has founded large-scale projects and ensembles, including Sydney’s Splinter Orchestra and Berlin’s Splitter Orkester. His concert and festival series — such as the NOW now Festival of Spontaneous Music, the Inner West Jazz Fest, and Berlin’s NINE LIVES series — are more than mere performance platforms. They are participatory spaces where musicians come together beyond hierarchy, genre, or market logic. No one is a “headliner”; all are equal parts of a shared process.

For Thomas, free music is lived democracy — a space of possibility where spontaneity, listening, trust, and risk are not side notes but fundamental. As he has expressed in interviews, “Spontaneous music matters precisely because it is rare — it stands in opposition to machine-driven consumer culture.” This ethos shapes both his music and his work as an organizer.

He is a student ofWilber Morris and Peter Kowald and he has collaborated with many leading voices in contemporary jazz and improvisation, including Evan Parker, Marilyn Crispell, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Tony Buck, and Maggie Nicols.

With the project SOUND THE ALARM, Thomas launched an artistic-political initiative whose proceeds directly support families in Palestine. This led to We See You, a growing movement that uses music to foster solidarity, visibility, and practical aid. Beyond the stage, he also works as a writer and creative director for NGOs such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and ActionAid.

Carovana091 is proud to welcome Clayton Thomas into its network. His unique ability to connect musical processes with social consciousness, and his refusal to separate art from responsibility, make him an extraordinary voice of our time. That SOUND THE ALARM resonates through our community — and that the We See You initiative began here — fills us with gratitude and hope.