Leap of Faith (2015 to Present)
Trajectories
Excerpt from Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
“… Ms. Lomon is featured here and shows that she is a force to be reckoned with on cello: plucking & banging on the strings as well as bowing up a storm as well. I really like the sound of that contrabass clarinet, deep and spooky and it works so well with the lower notes that Ms. Lomon plays on the cello. Drummer Niemitz often takes his time and rarely pushes the other very hard, yet still knows when to increase the intensity when need be…”
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
With new drummer/percussionist Steve Niemitz, the Leap of Faith trio of PEK on clarinet, contrabass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, musette, tarota, bass tromboon & sheng, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, and Niemitz on percussion recorded this session at Bonnie Kane’s monthly Thursday Night Experiment in Western Massachusetts.
Squidco Staff
Liner Notes by PEK
Leap of Faith made it’s first trip out to Holyoke in Western Mass to perform at Bonnie Kane’s monthly Thursday Night Experiment. Bonnie lives around the corner from a very nice performance space at Gateway City Arts. She’s arranged a monthly series there for improvisers who come in from all over. Our night (#38) featured the solo violin of Tom Swafford from Brooklyn and the duet Wormhole Superette from Philly… Turns out that sometime drummer for Evil Clown projects, Steve Niemitz, is just moving to the area, so Glynis and I pulled him in for this excellent trio Leap of Faith trio set.
It’s shorter (at under 40 minutes) than a typical LOF set, but it makes up for the brevity with concise intensity. Steve is an excellent drummer who is very different than recently departed Yuri Zbitnov… It is interesting to compare this set to a typical Yuri set that has the same base instrumentation (woodwinds, cello, drums), but a very different sound. Check it out!
Trajectories:
Leap of Faith
Thursday Night Experiment #38
Gateway City Arts Holyoke MA – 27 February 2020
Trajectories – 38:56
PEK – clarinet & contrabass clarinet, alto & tenor saxophones, musette, tarota, bass tromboon, sheng
Glynis Lomon – cello, aquasonic, voice
Steve Niemitz – percussion
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Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
LEAP OF FAITH with PEK / GLYNIS LOMON / STEVE NIEMITZ – Trajectories (Evil Clown 9243; USA) This is a stripped down version of Leap of Faith, just a trio with PEK on clarinets, alto & tenor saxes, musette, targato, bass tromboon & sheng; Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice and Steve Niemitz on drums. This set was recorded live at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke, MA in February of 2020 less than 2 months from today (4/14/20). The many different versions of Leap of Faith range from a duo (rare) to the Leap of Faith Orchestras. Very recently longtime Leap of Faith drummer, Yuii Zbitnov, retired from all Evil Clown ensembles. Since then, he has been replaced by a new drummer named Steve Niemitz. I can’t say that I had heard of Mr. Niemitz before now although Mr. PEK has a way of finding dozens of creative musicians from the Boston area to fill out the ranks of the various Leap of Faith and offshoot projects.
Another difference for this session is that PEK is playing just eight mainly reed instruments instead of the two dozens reeds, percussion, synths & whatnot that he usually plays. The sound is as careful and well-balanced as it usually is. PEK takes his time with one instrument at a time. Ms. Lomon is featured here and shows that she is a force to be reckoned with on cello: plucking & banging on the strings as well as bowing up a storm as well. I really like the sound of that contrabass clarinet, deep and spooky and it works so well with the lower notes that Ms. Lomon plays on the cello. Drummer Niemitz often takes his time and rarely pushes the other very hard, yet still knows when to increase the intensity when need be. Although many Leap of Faith discs deal in controlled or focused chaos, especially when the number of players increases to orchestral proportions, this trio version sound much more released, rather calm at the center yet it still pushes things further out in short bursts. The majority of Evil Clown label CD’s are pretty long and often contain 2 full sets. This is has just one set clocking in at 39 minutes which just seems long enough and complete on its own terms.
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
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