Leap of Faith (2015 to Present)
Coherent Alternatives
Review by Bruce Lee Gallanter (full text below)
“… The trio take their time, slowly working their way through their combined paths, Fugarino on assorted brass instruments, Ms. Lomon on cello or voice and PEK playing one instrument from his large arsenal at a time. PEK moves from melodica to percussion to varied reeds. This might be the most sparse and skeletal of Leap of Faith discs, and it does evolve very slowly…”
Leap of Faith is the core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, here joined by John Fugarino performing on trumpet, slide valve trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and leveraging the vast Evil Clown arsenal of percussion devices.
Excerpt from PEK Liner Notes
“…Coherent Alternatives is the first Leap of Faith session John has played on, and his work is excellent! In addition to the valve-slide trumpet he also brought a regular trumpet, a flugelhorn, and a trombone; and he also played a bunch of the percussion instruments that are always available to the players at a session at Evil Clown Headquarters… Despite it being 30 years since we last played together, the connection between the 3 of us was immediately deep.…”
Coherent Alternatives:
Leap of Faith
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 11 June 2022
1) Coherent Alternatives – 1:10:36
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, soprano, alto, & tenor saxophones, piccolo oboe, bass flute, bass tromboon, sheng, melodica, novation peak, moog subsequent, prophet, syntrix, Linnstrument controllers, [d]ronin, baby bomb piano, tank cello, 17 string bass, cow bells, spring & chime rod boxes, almglocken, crotales, glockenspiel, chimes, wood blocks, brontosaurus & tank bells, gongs, plate gong, temple blocks, log drums, cow bells, Englephone
Glynis Lomon – cello, aquasonic, cymbells, voice
John Fugarino – John Fugarino – trumpet, slide/valve trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, wood blocks, temple blocks, log drums, chimes, bell tree, Englephone
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Review by Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
LEAP OF FAITH with PEK / GLYNIS LOMON / JOHN FUGARINO – Coherent Alternatives (Evil Clown 9310; USA) Featuring PEK on clarinets, saxes, oboe, flute, sheng, electronics, synths, bass, piano and assorted percussion, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice and John Fugarino on trumpets, flugel, trombone and assorted percussion. Once or twice a year Leap of Faith founder Dave PEK sends us another box of 9 or 10 new discs. Yes, this is quite a bit for us to deal with and yes, perhaps there are too many discs in their vast (100+) CD catalogue. Myself and DMG reviewer Darren Bergstein have reviewed many dozens of these discs already and wonder if they will ever slow down. The thing is this, I do happen to dig each disc that I’ve reviewed and I believe that Mr. Peck has done a great job of utilizing the talents of more than fifty Boston-area based musicians, some known and many not very well known. We just a box in the mail last month which has 9 new releases so Darren and I will review as many as we can find the time to do.
Leap of Faith have been around for more than a decade with two constant members: Dave Peck and Glynis Lomon. Both are on this disc plus another member, John Fugarino. Mr. Fugarino is on just two of the recent batch of 9 discs. As is always the case, this session is well-recorded and starts off slowly with somber trumpet with sparse spooky sounds from PEK and bits of cello and the quirky voice of Ms. Lomon. The trio take their time, slowly working their way through their combined paths, Fugarino on assorted brass instruments, Ms. Lomon on cello or voice and PEK playing one instrument from his large arsenal at a time. PEK moves from melodica to percussion to varied reeds. This might be the most sparse and skeletal of Leap of Faith discs,and it does evolve very slowly. PEK adds bits of echo or reverb to their sound with selective amounts electronics, synths or other subtle sonic seasoning. At 70plus minutes, this disc does take some time and patience to work through but I do find it fascinating for as long as I am listening.
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Liner Notes by PEK
Leap of Faith is the core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice. 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. At times, the core unit has been a trio or even a quartet. The longest running core unit was comprised of PEK, Glynis and drummer Yuri Zbitnov, who played for the last couple of years of the archival period and the first 5 years of the reboot starting in 2015. The ensemble has always been highly modular, and our many recordings (well over 100) feature the core unit in dozens of configurations with a huge list of guests and occasionally as only the core unit with no guests. Currently, the core unit is the duet of PEK and Lomon and we are regularly presenting LIVESTREAMs to YouTube from Evil Clown Headquarters with other guest performers.
I met Glynis originally when we both played in the Masashi Harada Sextet… A few months after I arrived in Boston to attend Berklee, I saw Masashi perform with Joe and Matt Maneri and introduced myself afterwards, and the Sextet started soon after. I was a bit older (at 25) than most Berklee students and I had spent the 5 years prior studying jazz and classical saxophone in California. I also played in rock bands, and with some of those musicians (Jim Smith, Mike Grialou, and David Murray), we made some very experimental music. Although I had a great deal of instrumental technique, I had not played with the level of seasoned free-improvisation specialists that were in this band and generally part of the Boston Improvisation scene. Therefore, the MHS was a critically important band for me in entering the initial phase of my mature improvisation style.
Also in the MHS, was John Fugarino, who played a trumpet with both valves and a slide, and who had been studying microtonal and other composition at New England Conservatory, just down the street from Berklee. John and I played a fair amount outside of the MHS, including in a quartet with Masashi on drums and the amazing George Garzone with whom I was studying with at Berklee. As happens with many bands, the MHS was short-lived, folding after a few years… Following the dissolution of the MHS, Glynis and I formed our first trio, Leaping Water Trio, which morphed into the first Leap of Faith lineup a few years later. We both, however lost track of John at this time.
A few months back, I ran into John on facebook. He is currently teaching music at the Elementary School level and also performs regularly, although not much free improvisation. I encouraged him to come and join in on Evil Clown Livestreaming performances and he made his initial appearance on a large format Turbulence Orchestra session (Wind Shear) in April. Coherent Alternatives is the first Leap of Faith session John has played on, and his work is excellent! In addition to the valve-slide trumpet he also brought a regular trumpet, a flugelhorn, and a trombone; and he also played a bunch of the percussion instruments that are always available to the players at a session at Evil Clown Headquarters… Despite it being 30 years since we last played together, the connection between the 3 of us was immediately deep.
I like this reunion session and I think you will too. John will be back next month for a Turbulence Orchestra set, and I’m working on scheduling another Leap of Faith set for late summer with this trio + pianist/synth player Eric Zinman. Stayed tuned and check us out!
– PEK 6/12/2022
Video Screen Grabs
