Leap of Faith (2015 to Present)
Order of Ramifications
Review Excerpt by Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
“Starting off quietly, the suspense runs deep. The music here is stripped down so we just hear the two strings and percussion for a while. Ms. Spiers erupts half way through this long set, with quick, intense lines while Pek also unleashes layers of interweaving fragments. Mr. Zbitnov usually plays drums and often keeps the rhythmic flows going, lays back here and plays more minimal cymbals & bells. Ms. Spiers is a gifted violinist and throughout the second half of this long set she is featured at length, taking long & winding solos, with some strong interaction from Ms. Lomon’s equally impressive cello and Zbitnov’s spinning brushwork. …things are often more minimal and the pace is slower at times. Subtle yet still engaging, nonetheless.”
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
“The core trio of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra of improvisers, approaching large work using unique compositional techniques and an arsenal of traditional and unusual instruments and percussive devices, here joined by Elinor Spiers on violin, log drums, glockenspiel, metal, wood, crotales, and cymbells, for a uniquely detailed and immense improvisation.”
– Squidco Staff
Excerpt from Liner Notes Excerpt by PEK
“… Glynis and I go back now over 25 years and our musical interaction has always included a great deal of textural and gestural imitation as we seek to blend our sounds together into complex combinations. Of course, we use lots of other mechanisms including contrasting our sounds and many others. What I found interesting about this session is that there is much more motivic imitation than is typical in Leap of Faith improvisations. Most of our sound objects are not essentially melodic and motivic imitation involves capturing melodic or rhythmic fragments and responding with similar or developed fragment…”
Order of Ramifications:
Leap of Faith
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 11 November 2018
1) Order of Ramifications – 1:11:00
PEK – alto, tenor & bass saxophones, clarinet & contraalto clarinet, tarota, english horn, tromboon, sheng, ms-20, brontosaurus & tank bells, crotales, chains, cymbells, brake drums, [d]ronin, orchestral chimes, daiko, wood, metal
Glynis Lomon – cello, aquasonic, voice
Elinor Speirs – violin, log drums, glockenspiel, metal, wood, crotales, cymbells
Yuri Zbitnov – drums, brontosaurus & tank bells, crotales, cymbells, brake drums, [d]ronin, wood, metal, chains
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Bruce Lee Gallanter Review, Downtown Music Gallery
LEAP OF FAITH with PEK / GLYNIS LOMON / YURI ZBITNOV / ELINOR SPIERS – Order of Ramifications (Evil Clown 9199; USA) This is a smaller quartet version of Leap of Faith which features: PEK on alto, tenor & bass saxes, clarinets, tarogato, English horn, sheng & assorted percussion; Glynis Lomon on cello & aquasonics, Elinor Spiers on violin & percussion and Yuri Zbitnov on drums, metal & percussion. This disc was recorded at Evil Clown HQ on November 11 of 2018. Dave Peck’s large Leap of Faith empire has just dropped another half dozen discs upon us as they do a few times a year. This is no surprise since they have passed the 100 mark and are still pretty prolific.
This is a studio session and features just a quartet, the core trio of PEK, Ms. Lomon & Mr. Zbitnov plus newer member Elinor Spiers, who has been on a few recent LOF CD’s. As a quartet it is easier to hear who is playing what: mostly reeds, two strings and assorted percussion. Starting off quietly, the suspense runs deep. The music here is stripped down so we just hear the two strings and percussion for a while. Ms. Spiers erupts half way through this long set, with quick, intense lines while Pek also unleashes layers of interweaving fragments. Mr. Zbitnov usually plays drums and often keeps the rhythmic flows going, lays back here and plays more minimal cymbals & bells. Ms. Spiers is a gifted violinist and throughout the second half of this long set she is featured at length, taking long & winding solos, with some strong interaction from Ms. Lomon’s equally impressive cello and Zbitnov’s spinning brushwork. A number of the Leap of Faith discs I’ve reviewed in the past can get pretty dense at times, depending on how many musicians are involved. Not so much here, things are often more minimal and the pace is slower at times. Subtle yet still engaging, nonetheless. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
PEK Liner Notes
Leap of Faith is the core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & 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 highlyis that it is always available. That’s great for scheduling recordings / streaming performances, but occasionally really great for an instant venue change!!!
The instrumental resources available at Evil Clown Headquarters far exceed what I can transport to Outpost 186 or fit in their small space. So, the debut of this trio LOF lineup had access to the heavy percussion and electronics gear which is too much to move for a live performance in a small space. This is equipment that I always use for Metal Chaos Ensemble which typically contains more rock elements than Leap of Faith. For this set, we use the electronics and percussion without the rock elements of groove, electric bass and the drum set, suitable for Leap of Faith. I think this was a fantastic set and am already planning for more sets in the future from this very different new Leap of Faith trio configuration.
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– PEK 2/16/20
Raffi Photos
