Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units
At Third Life Studios
Cloud Taxonomies
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… For this show none of the drummers from the roster was available. In larger ensembles it is rare for us not to have a drummer in the band and the current core trio includes Yuri Zbitnov on drums. However, Leap of Faith’s early incarnations in the early 90s were drummer-less. First the trio included Glynis, myself and trombonist Mark McGrain, and then Mark left to New Orleans and Craig Schildhauer joined us on bass. Sydney Smart did join in on drums for some of the sessions during that period.…”
Cloud Taxonomies:
Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units
Third Life Studios, Somerville MA – 3 November 2018
disc 1:
1) Sub-Unit 1: Troposphere – 20:33
2) Sub-Unit 2: Mesosphere – 20:38
3) Sub-Unit 3: Stratosphere- 20:34
disc 2:
4) Orchestra – Cloud Taxonomies – 50:37
PEK (1-4) – sopranino, bamboo soprano, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, clarinet & contraalto clarinet, dulzaina, English horn, guanzi, contrabassoon, wood & alto flutes, melodica, sheng, game calls, death whistle, aquasonic, gong, metal, wood, hand chimes, clown horn
Glynis Lomon (1,3,4) – cello, aquasonic, voice, hand chimes
Bob Moores (2,4) – trumpet, bugle, wood flute, wood, metal, hand chimes, game calls
Duane Reed (2,4) – baritone horn, bass trombone, wood, metal, hand chimes, aquasonic, wind siren
Eric Woods (3,4) – analog synth
Albey onBass (1,3,4) – upright electric bass
Reverend Grant Beale (3,4) – electronics
Silvain Castellano (1,3,4) – bass
Adrienne Schoenfeld (1,4) – double bass
Liner Notes by PEK
Five times a year, a smallish Leap of Faith Orchestra (10 to 15 players) heads over to Third Life Studios in Somerville for an evening of large ensemble improvisation. For the first half of the show, we do four short 15 minute improvisations or three 20 minute improvisations by different trio, quartet or quintet sub-groupings of the orchestra. Then we do a 50 minute improvisation with everyone.
These shows are open to the entire Evil Clown roster of about 50 musicians. So, although we have some steady regulars, the orchestra really is different every time. I assign the sub-units to take advantage of unusual groupings of instruments. I also bring a bunch of auxiliary instruments like wood blocks, hand chimes, bells, slide whistles, sirens, etc., which we distribute though the ensemble to enable players to completely change their sound.
For the longer improvisation with everyone, we have a rule that each player should lay out for roughly a third of the duration of the piece. Together with the broad palate provided by a large ensemble with everyone capable of instrument changes, this rule naturally creates a steady flow of transformations though different sonorities.
For this show none of the drummers from the roster was available. In larger ensembles it is rare for us not to have a drummer in the band and the current core trio includes Yuri Zbitnov on drums. However, Leap of Faith’s early incarnations in the early 90s were drummer-less. First the trio included Glynis, myself and trombonist Mark McGrain, and then Mark left to New Orleans and Craig Schildhauer joined us on bass. Sydney Smart did join in on drums for some of the sessions during that period.
It is interesting in improvisation when the drums are not present, changing the dominant rhythmic environment away from percussive impacts to different categories of interaction. At Evil Clown we also use percussion to create rich textures that are about color and not time-keeping. So, there is still plenty of percussion on the auxiliary instruments in the performance, but no one at the drum set. Also, this time we have both Eric Woods and Reverend Grant Beale on electronics. So this unique incarnation of the Orchestra is comprised of 4 Low Strings, 3 Horns, 2 Electronics and no drum set…
PEK, 10/4/2018
Raffi Photos
