Review by Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

LEAP OF FAITH [With PEK/GLYNIS LOMON/YURI ZBITNOV/ERIC ZINMAN/SYD SMART/STEVE NORTON] – Superalloys – Studio 234 – Cambridge, MA – 7 April 2015 (Evil Clown 9057; USA) Featuring PEK on saxes, clarinets, double reeds, tarogato, aquasonic, Glynis Lomon on cello, metal & voice, Steve Norton on clarinets & saxes, Eric Zinman on piano, Yuri Zbitnov on drums and Syd Smart on metal (2nd track only). This disc consists of two long (35+ minute) tracks with a quintet version of Leap of Faith on the first piece. Aside from the usual suspects (PEK, Lomon, Norton & Zbitnov), the only musician here that I know is pianist Eric Zinman who has worked with Linda Sharrock, Ted Daniel and Francois Tusques. “Thermal Creep Deformations” starts with a dense layer of percussion, cymbals and metals. Eventually both reeds players enter on clarinets, double & singles reeds as well as piano and cello. This music is completely improvised and quite free, reminding me of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, in the organic way hat their sets unfolds and are filled with the possessed spirits of various reeds and little instruments like percussive toys or chochkes. This disc is 74+ minutes long and most compelling throughout.