Axioms
Extensions to Infinity
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… This new set, Extensions to Infinity, features guest Chris Alford, who is in town from NOLA… Chris is originally from the area and is in town periodically. He knows Albey and Jane from when they were there in NOLA. Last year Albey brought Chris over for a few Leap of Faith sets which were fantastic. Anyway, we scheduled the next Axioms set around Chris’ current trip to the area. We’ll definitely have Chris over in the future when he is visiting…”
Extensions to Infinity:
Axioms
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 18 July 2023
1) Extensions to Infinity – 1:05:57
2) Extensionality – 5:39
Jane Spokenword – poetry, spoken word, gong, plate gong, glockenspiel, bell tree
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, 5-hole wood flute, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, log drums, danmo, wood blocks, gongs, plate gong, crotales, brontosaurus & tank bells, orchestral chimes, Englephone, array mbira, spring & chime boxes, prophet, novation peak, moog subsequent, syntrx, nord stage 3, ms-20, soma pipe, game calls, tank cello, chimes, Linnstrument controllers, voice
Glynis Lomon – cello, aquasonic, voice
Chris Alford – guitar, stomp boxes, spring & chime boxes, wood & temple blocks, log drums
Albey onBass – fretless bass, spoken word, gong, bell tree, seed pod rattle, xylophone, balafon, log drums, brontosaurus bell, flex-a-tone
Joel Simches – live to 2-track recording, real-time signal processing
Full Video
Video Shorties
Liner Notes by PEK
Albey onBass and Jane SpokenWord were associated with Cecil Taylor’s final trio. Following Cecil’s passing they were in Boston for about a year in 2017-2018 and Albey performed a dozen or so times with Leap of Faith, Metal Chaos Ensemble and Turbulence. In November 2018, Albey and I had been discussing doing a duet, but we decided to include Jane’s poetry as a trio. This new Evil Clown Ensemble we called Axioms, which to me is an apt name for a band which features words – something that most Evil Clown sessions do not.
There are two definitions:
1) a statement or proposition that is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true
2) a statement or proposition on which an abstractly defined structure is based (mathematics)
These two meanings bridge the distance between poetic discussion of truths and abstract musical structures.
A few months later, about a year before the virus, Albey and Jane moved to New Orleans, so the original session from December 2018, Manifestations, had been our only recording to date.
In July of 2021, Albey and Jane returned to the Northeast, splitting their time between New York and Boston. Albey has performed since then with many Evil Clown Ensembles, and this newest Axioms recording is the 8th set. Glynis Lomon, cellist from Leap of Faith has been on most of the newer Axioms recordings, so the most common unit is quartet.
Axioms is fundamentally different from the other Evil Clown Ensembles since it features Jane’s poetry – Jane and Albey have performed many times together along with many notable players from the free improvisation scene. So, Axioms is really the Evil Clown setting for Jane and Albey’s ongoing poetry project.
This new set, Extensions to Infinity, features guest Chris Alford, who is in town from NOLA… Chris is originally from the area and is in town periodically. He knows Albey and Jane from when they were there in NOLA. Last year Albey brought Chris over for a few Leap of Faith sets which were fantastic. Anyway, we scheduled the next Axioms set around Chris’ current trip to the area. We’ll definitely have Chris over in the future when he is visiting…
This is a terrific performance of improvisation with poetry… I really like this set and I bet you will also!
PEK – 19 July 2023
Paul Brennan Photos
