Notes by PEK

The Pointy Toes Ensemble was formed in 1994 specifically to perform my major work of composition, EXPANSIONS.   This huge scale 90 minute work was the first major project I did as a leader following my departure from the Masashi Harada Sextet.  Members included Glynis Lomon and Sam Lobel from the current working Trio of the time, Leaping Water Trio, and Mark McGrain and Sydney Smart who would soon become members of the first incarnation of Leap of Faith.    I spent all of my Free time for about 2 years before the performance, composing the score, creating the video and tape materials and rehearsing the group.

Language from the Promotional Materials at the time:

EXPANSIONS employs twentieth century classical scoring devices (frame notation) to explore settings for contemporary musical composition / improvisation supported by both improvised and fixed audio and video tape events, including computer generated fractal images.  A primary mixer and four equipment / machine operators create a scored real-time quadraphonic mix if varying densities and textures from ten machine sound sources.

THANKS to Martha Ritchey for video editing and production assistance, Dementia Graphics for fractal graphics, Lynton Vanderstein for live performance video production.  SPECIAL THANKS to Raymond and Angela Peck, Martha Ritchey, Thom Jones, Glen Peterson, Gene Williams and Mobius.      

PEK