Axioms
Hypotheses
Excerpt from Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
“… Albey’s bass adds a central guiding force to the quintet, speeding up, slowing down, keeping the rhythm flow with the drummer ongoing. Ms. Jane’s poetry describes life in NYC, sometimes treacherous or disturbing, sometimes funny, sometimes just the normal everyday whatnot. The music is often stripped down to just the occasional spoken words with minimal accompaniment… This disc is unlike anything else on Evil Clown in that it is more relaxed, more sparse with time to consider the words that Jane is speaking…”
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
The second album of free improv with poetry from the Boston-based Evil Clown collective band Axioms of David Peck, Jane SpokenWord and Albey onBass, this album extending the trio with Glynis Lomon on cello and Steve Niemitz on drums & percussion, heard in an extended improvisation bridging the distance between poetic discussion of truths and abstract musical structures.
Squidco Staff
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… Albey reached out a few days back (7/21/21) to let me know that he and Jane would be in our area for a few weeks. I immediately went to work to raise a band for an Axioms follow-up. The original Axioms set was a trio with Joel managing the recording. This set is a bit of a Leap of Faith crossover with the addition of Glynis on the cello and master drummer Steve Niemitz.…”
Hypotheses:
Axioms
Evil Clown Headquarters- Waltham MA – 17 July 2021
1) Hypotheses – 1:10:48
Jane Spokenword – poetry, spoken word
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, bass flute, piccolo oboe, bass tromboon, sheng, [d]ronin, electric chimes, chime rod boxes, telstar, spring boxes, gongs, Tibetan bowls & bells, glockenspiel, crotales, orchestral chimes. looper, voice
Glynis Lomon – cello, aquasonic, voice
Albey onBass – electric upright bass, gongs
Steve Niemitz – drums, gongs, plate gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, cow bells, almgocken, chimes, log drums, wood blocks, temple blocks
Joel Simches – live to 2 track recording
Bandcamp | Squidco | YouTube | Soundcloud
Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
AXIOMS with PEK / GLYNIS LOMON / JANE SPOKEN WORD / STEVE NIEMITZ / ALBEY ONBASS – Hypothesis (Evil Clown 9279; USA) Personnel: Pek – clarinets, saxes, flute, double reeds & assorted percussion, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, Jane SW – spoken word / poetry, Albey (Balgochian) – electric contrabass and Steve Niemitz – drums & assorted percussion. When the pandemic closed everything down and forced us inside, the ever-prolific Evil Clown label also paired down to just solo discs from their founder Dave PEK. As things slowly return to the new normal, PEK has reformed a number of his different bands/projects: Leap of Faith, Metal Chaos, Turbulence and Axioms. This is the second disc from the Axioms ensemble (as far as I can tell), whose personnel includes the great contrabassist Albey Balgochian (once a member of the later period Cecil Taylor Trio) and his wife Jane. Both Albey and Jane have chosen to not use their last names for this unit. Not sure why but I didn’t find it that hard to figure this out.
Considering that there are over 100 discs on Evil Clown, very few have any spoken word segments. I recall perhaps two discs with PEK or Yuri Zbitnov doing some sci-fi-like narration which just added to the weirdness factor. The addition of a bassist is a good thing here as practically none of the other Evil Clown releases have one. Albey’s bass adds a central guiding force to the quintet, speeding up, slowing down, keeping the rhythm flow with the drummer ongoing. Ms. Jane’s poetry describes life in NYC, sometimes treacherous or disturbing, sometimes funny, sometimes just the normal everyday whatnot. The music is often stripped down to just the occasional spoken words with minimal accompaniment. “The revolution will not be digitized!” This disc is unlike anything else on Evil Clown in that it is more relaxed, more sparse with time to consider the words that Jane is speaking. She makes a number of interesting observations about modern life. This disc is more of an Albey and Jane session than anything else, hence showing a completely different side to the Leap of Faith endeavors of the past and present.
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Liner Notes by PEK
Albey onBass and Jane SpokenWord were associated with Cecil Taylor’s final period. Following Cecil’s passing they were in Boston for about a year in 1998 and the beginning of 1999 and Albey performed a dozen or so times with Leap of Faith, Metal Chaos Ensemble and Turbulence. In November 1998, 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 this original session, Manifestations, has been our only recording to date.
That was an excellent set which you can check out at bandcamp:
As usual, the full performance is up on YouTube:
Jane also made some great MTV style video excerpts: I Caught You Dreaming, Flux, Art of Poetry, Anthrax and Bombs
Albey reached out a few days back (7/21/21) to let me know that he and Jane would be in our area for a few weeks. I immediately went to work to raise a band for an Axioms follow-up. The original Axioms set was a trio with Joel managing the recording. This set is a bit of a Leap of Faith crossover with the addition of Glynis on the cello and master drummer Steve Niemitz.
Three days later this current performance, Hypotheses, was LIVESTREAMED to YouTube from Evil Clown Headquarters. Janes new poems really ring out, and with Leap of Faith as the backup band with Albey’s amazing electric upright bass holding down the bottom end, this is a very special session and a suitable follow up to Manifestations… Albey and Jane have recently moved back to New York. Being much closer than NOLA and with old Boston ties, I expect we’ll see them more often and be able to record more Axioms albums. So stay tuned!!
Video Screen Grabs
