Squidco Blurb

“A core trio setting for Boston’s framework improvising Leap of Faith with David Peck (PEK) on clarinets, saxophone and assorted winds, Yuri Zbitnoff on drums & percussion, and Glynis Lomon on cellos and percussion, along with gongs, a ton of Tibetan bowls and bells, various orchestral castanets, various seed pod and other wood rattles, and other small things”

PEK Liner Notes

Leap of Faith is the core trio of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & 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.

While the Leap of Faith Aesthetic generally utilizes larger ensembles with a variety of guests to create very broad palettes, maximizing potential for transformation across sonority, we also do smaller ensembles like quartets and quintets and occasionally just the core trio. I often observe that the strong connections that develop between the core members driving larger ensembles are exposed and emphasized when those players perform in a small unit. In fact, looking through the catalog, now containing well over 100 Leap of Faith titles, I find only 5 albums with this exact trio, and one duet with just PEK and Glynis. There are many other sets with quartets and quintets and other trios with early trio Leap of Faith line-up members Craig Schildhauer (bass) and Mark McGrain (trombone). There are also a number of PEK/Zbitnov duets which are released as Metal Chaos Ensemble.

Outpost 186, the site of Evil Clown’s third Saturday Residency, now in it’s third year, is a small venue. For most gigs, I bring 4 to 6 players from one of the Evil Clown Ensembles. There is generally not much room for the auxiliary instruments, so while we always have some, I would bring more if space permitted. When we do a trio, consequently, there is more room than usual, and I bring a lot more stuff. For auxiliary instruments this time, I brought 2 gongs, a ton of Tibetan bowls and bells, various orchestral castanets, various seed pod and other wood rattles, and other small things in 4 big percussion bags. This is the broadest pallet we have had for trio set at Outpost 186, but far short of what we have available when we are recording at Evil Clown Headquarters. Still, enough instruments for some really varied wood and metal textures…

Next week, the Leap of Faith Orchestra performs The Photon Epoch by PEK!!! These full orchestra performances use a Frame Notation Score to guide the improvisation. They take a lot of effort to prepare, and so these scores are only performed once or twice a year. This is the sixth performance by the LOFO of one of theses scores since 2015. Over time, I have observed that so-called “warm up” shows with small units that happen right before the LOFO shows are great performances, as we anticipate the excitement of the big show to follow. That is certainly the case here… Yuri exploring his wonderful new rig, a great pallet of instruments, the excitement of next week, the rarity of core trio performances all combine in a great core trio set! Check it out….