Review Excerpt from Marc Medwin, Squid’s Ear

“… Part of the fun is that there’s a whole lotta doublin’ goin; on. Just look at the Rabelaisian list of instruments the leader wields to suit his constantly morphing purposes, half of which I can’t identify, or the briefer but equally fascinating arsenal of drummer Yuri Zbitnoff. All that timbral merriment foregrounds the fact that performer anonymity is a common occurrence, leaving the listener afloat in a haze of changing style, sound and space. There are certainly times when that legal fiction we still call jazz rears its head, or threatens to do so, but it quickly submerges beneath orchestral shades and crystalline percussion avalanches…”

Marc Medwin, Squid’s Ear

Squidco Blurb

“The core trio of the Leap of Faith Orchestra–PEK on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, and Yuri Zbitnov on drums & percussion–is joined by fellow Orchestra violinist Mimi Rabson and special guest, violinist Elinor Speirs, for a remarkable improvised work using a huge arsenal of instruments including a new Brontosaurus Bell.”

Squidco Staff

Review Excerpt from Marc Medwin, Squid’s Ear

Bill Dixon used to say that a soloist is the smallest orchestra possible. David Peck seems to form ensembles on that premise. Leap of Faith is one of those aggregates in which size, shape, timbre and even instrumental distinction are continually and wonderfully present and blurred, contradicting even the notion of contradiction.

Part of the fun is that there’s a whole lotta doublin’ goin; on. Just look at the Rabelaisian list of instruments the leader wields to suit his constantly morphing purposes, half of which I can’t identify, or the briefer but equally fascinating arsenal of drummer Yuri Zbitnoff. All that timbral merriment foregrounds the fact that performer anonymity is a common occurrence, leaving the listener afloat in a haze of changing style, sound and space. There are certainly times when that legal fiction we still call jazz rears its head, or threatens to do so, but it quickly submerges beneath orchestral shades and crystalline percussion avalanches. It is absolutely wonderful to hear cellist Glynis Lomon, whose work, speaking of Bill Dixon, I remember fondly from the 2007 Vision Festival and who, like everyone in Leap of Faith, is in excellent form here. There are certain points at which delay, again conjuring shades of that pioneering and now departed trumpeter, comes centerstage, but electronics are in play less frequently than on other Evil Clown releases.

As musical trope and idea ebb and flow, and as melodic simplicity and overtone complexity vie for prominence, the sound of the room is ever-present. The recording has a beautifully resonant quality, not overly reverberant but certainly live, that is lacking from so many documents of improvised music, and the room functions almost like another instrument, lending its own character to every sound it contains. The net effect is a sense of live music making and its attendant excitement and discovery in action as we’re let in on the processes behind its creation. This is music delightfully and consciously shorn of idiom and the more confrontational for it, even during its most peaceful moments, of which there are plenty. 

– Marc Medwin, Squid’s Ear

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 Clown instruments 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.

Mimi Rabson is our star violinist from the Leap of Faith Orchestra.  She is a brilliant and highly in demand player who also teaches at Berklee.  We love playing with Mimi and have her play with us as often as we can.  In order to keep momentum that comes from regular sessions in small improvisation units, Glynis, Yuri and myself work around Mimi’s availability to schedule as many Evil Clown Headquarters sessions as we can.  To date, we have recorded 3 prior excellent sessions at ECH in addition to Topological Constructions:  Semantic Differentials (April 2018), Zeno’s Paradox (September 2017) and Thought Experiment (November 2017).

Violinist Elinor Speirs is our special guest for Topological Constructions.  She is working on a DMA at New England Conservatory, like our regular LOFO member Dan O’Brien.  I contacted her hoping she could be in the string section for the performance of my work for improvisation orchestra, Cosmological Horizons, next month at Killian Hall MIT.  Unfortunately, she can’t make CH, so we decided to get her together with this small Strings variation of Leap of Faith at Evil Clown Headquarters.  Glynis, Mimi and Elinor were a spectacular string section indeed!!  Hopefully we’ll see more of Elinor in the future…

Worthy of note is the newest arsenal acquisition, the Brontosaurus Bell, which is making its Leap of Faith premiere on this recording.   This is an extraordinarily large (32 inches) cow bell which someone welded together and hung from a huge heavy stand.  No cows are big enough for this bell, so I’m calling it the Brontosaurus Bell.  Turns out this instrument has lots of different amazing sounds depending on where, with what, and how hard you strike it!!  It has sounds like from a thunder sheet or rapidly decaying gong. A perfect complement to the already huge set of metal percussion instruments…. 

One special thing about the ECH sessions is the ready availability of all of the instruments in the Evil Clown Arsenal.  The studio is pretty big, but there is not enough room for the entire Arsenal, so we select auxiliary instruments until the room is full.  The available sound palette is the biggest we customarily use except for full Orchestra shows at larger venues (when we move it all with a truck).

PEK, 23 June 2018