[1] He began playing clarinet as a child,[1] and was exposed to the music of Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington by his parents.
[1] Over the years, in addition to releasing a number of albums, they toured the world, and collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including Marshall Allen, Eddie Gale, Henry Grimes, Kidd Jordan, Peter Kowald, Miya Masaoka, Roscoe Mitchell, Sunny Murray, Larry Ochs, William Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, Cecil Taylor, John Tchicai, and Michael Wimberly.
"[4] In an AllMusic review, Michael G. Nastos wrote: "The bass clarinet of Oluyemi Thomas is freely able to discourse at length in an overblown harmonic fashion reminiscent of latter-period John Coltrane.
"[9] In addition to being an improvisor, Thomas composes, and is known for his colorful graphic scores, which, according to Duane Deterville, who interviewed him, resemble paintings by Kandinsky.
"[11] With Marco Eneidi With Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith With Sunny Murray With Alan Silva With Gino Robair