Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK

“…Leap of Faith has had a huge number of configurations of guests over the years.  Sometimes we play with musicians who play at the quiet end of the dynamic spectrum, usually we play with musicians who vary the dynamics significantly over the course of the improvisation, and sometimes we play loud and strong throughout….   This set definitely belongs to the last group and is the most like the free improvisation school of Energy Music currently in the Leap of Faith catalog…”

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.

Bonnie Kane, an Evil Clown regular, hosts a series in Holyoke MA called the Friday Experiment.  It’s a great monthly series with each night featuring tight sets by several bands and a group jam at the end.  Holyoke is about 90 minutes west of the Boston Area, so Bonnie travels a ways to get here for Evil Clown sessions.  Bonnie’s drummer John Loggia has also appeared on several Turbulence Orchestra sessions with Bonnie and a bunch of other horn players.  They have been a duet for the last 6 or 7 years and have also played together in various other settings.

Albey onBass (Balgochian) showed up in Boston about two years before the pandemic with his wife, the poet Jane Spokenword.  Albey rapidly became an Evil Clown regular performing many times in a bunch of the ensembles.  Just before the pandemic Albey and Jane moved to New Orleans where they stayed through the virus.  About a year back, they returned to New York but are also frequently in Boston.  I schedule as many sets as I can when I know Albey will be in town.

Newbie Chris Alford makes his debut Evil Clown appearance on this session.  He lives still in New Orleans, but his wife is originally from the Boston area.  They were in town for about a month and Albey reached out asking if he could join in on this set.  Albey, and generally everyone, is welcome to suggest players for the roster, so I immediately agreed!

Leap of Faith has had a huge number of configurations of guests over the years.  Sometimes we play with musicians who play at the quiet end of the dynamic spectrum, usually we play with musicians who vary the dynamics significantly over the course of the improvisation, and sometimes we play loud and strong throughout….   This set definitely belongs to the last group and is the most like the free improvisation school of Energy Music currently in the Leap of Faith catalog.  Metal Chaos Ensemble and Simulacrum are the Evil Clown ensembles that tend to be louder and have more rock elements.  For Transmutation, the Energy Music dynamic is apparent, but the music has more free jazz elements than rock elements…

I like this Set and I bet you will too.  Check it out!

7/16/2022