Leap of Faith (2015 to Present)
Fractured Symmetries
Excerpt from Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
“Like most discs by Leap of Faith, this one starts off with ritualistic percussion: gongs, cymbals, bells, drums… one by one, slowly building until other instruments enter… the low-end drone of a double reed… subtle layers of percussion ever-expanding… What makes this session/set different from past Leap of Faith is that it is often laid back… no weird vocals or over the top intensity. It shows another side to this band which is rarely heard.”
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Excerpt from PEK Liner Notes
“… On Fractured Symmetries, we are joined by Sydney Smart. Syd goes way back with Leap of Faith to the early 90s and even before that with Glynis. Syd was a frequent guest in the original LOF lineup with PEK, Glynis and trombonist Mark McGrain and in the second LOF lineup with PEK, Glynis and bassist Craig Schildhauer…”
Fractured Symmetries:
Leap of Faith
Outpost 186, Cambridge MA – 21 April 2018
1) Number One – 11:59
2) Fractured Symmetries – 1:01:34
PEK (1, 2) – sopranino, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, clarinet & contralto clarinet, tarota, English horn, contrabassoon, alto flute, sheng, harmonium, aquasonic, metal, wood, wind siren, hand chimes, voice
Glynis Lomon (2) – cello, aquasonic, voice
Syd Smart (1, 2) – electronic percussion, wood, metal, percussion
Yuri Zbitnov (1, 2) – drums, metal, wood, hand chimes, voice
Bandcamp | YouTube 1 | YouTube 2 | Soundcloud
Review by Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
LEAP OF FAITH with PEK / GLYNIS LOMON / YURI ZBITNOV / SYDNEY SMART – Fractured Symmetries (Evil Clown 9176; USA) Featuring Dave PEK on sopranino, alto, tenor & bass saxes, clarinets, tarogato, flute, harmonium, etc., Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonics & voice and Sydnet Smart & Yuri Zbitnov on drums, percussion & metal. This disc was recorded live at Outpost 186 in Cambridge, MA in April of 2018. Since the current core members of Leap of Faith are just the trio of PEK, Ms. Lomon & Mr. Zbitnov, this quartet is one of the smaller versions of Leap of Faith. You should recognize the name of their guest drummer, Syd Smart, from records he’s made with Raphe Malik, Ted Daniel and Frank Wright. Like most discs by Leap of Faith, this one starts off with ritualistic percussion: gongs, cymbals, bells, drums… one by one, slowly building until other instruments enter… the low-end drone of a double reed… subtle layers of percussion ever-expanding… What makes this session/set different from past Leap of Faith is that it is often laid back… no weird vocals or over the top intensity. It shows another side to this band which is rarely heard.
Liner Notes by PEK
Leap of Faith is the core trio of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, and Yuri Zbitnov on drums & percussion. The ensemble is based in Boston and dates back to the early 90s. We utilize a huge arsenal of additional Evil Clowninstruments to improvise long works featuring transformations across highly varied sonorities. The ensemble has always been highly modular and our many recordings feature the core trio in dozens of configurations with a huge list of guests.
On Fractured Symmetries, we are joined by Sydney Smart. Syd goes way back with Leap of Faith to the early 90s and even before that with Glynis. Syd was a frequent guest in the original LOF lineup with PEK, Glynis and trombonist Mark McGrain and in the second LOF lineup with PEK, Glynis and bassist Craig Schildhauer. PEK, Glynis, Yuri and Syd all played together in the ensembles of Raqib Hassan. In addition, Glynis and Syd have played together with pianist Eric Zinman for many years in a trio called New Language Collaborative.
We love playing with Syd who brings an amazing sensibility to pure improvisation. In recent years Syd has been using an electronic percussion rig which is easier to move than drum set. So, this Leap of Faith performance has great depth in the percussion section with Syd on electronic and acoustic percussion and Yuri on drums and percussion with PEK chiming in occasionally. Glynis was running a bit late, so we opened with a short piece as a trio, and then after a rapid cello setup, we did the main event as a quartet.
Fractured Symmetries was recorded in performance at Outpost 186 in Cambridge MA where Evil Clown has a residency on the third Saturday of each month. For each performance we use a variation on the core Leap of Faith ensemble with guests or one of the other named Sub-Units of the LOFO: Metal Chaos Ensemble (the extended percussion section), Turbulence (the expanded horn section), String Theory (the expanded string section), or Mekaniks (featuring some electronic instruments, loops and signal processing).
PEK, 22 April 2018
Raffi Photos
