Sonic Pioneers Unleashed With Performances, 2015

Evil Clown Performances

2015

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023| 2024

2015 was a huge year for Evil Clown, as we emerged from a 14-year hiatus following a 10 year period of intense activity in the 90s. I had ceased musical activity in 2001 due to the demands of my day gig and the impossibility of doing both at the same time with any seriousness. In 2012 to 2014, Yuri Zbitnov (drummer from the last few years of the Archival Period) invited me to play on a few shows with his band Mission Creep. Also on those shows was reed player Steve Norton who had played on Expansions in 1994 and the BIC sets later in the 90s lead by Matt Samolis.

I also visited the Downtown Music Gallery in Manhattan while working in NYC for my day gig. I had a great conversation with proprietor Bruce Lee Gallanter who knew me as a frequent and long-term customer, but not as a musician. The next week, I sent Bruce a box with 10 or 12 of the CD titles that we had made during the Archival Period and Bruce was able to sell virtually all of it.

These two things made me realize that I was ready to resume musical activity and that there was an audience for our approach to Free Improvisation. I reformed Leap of Faith as the core trio from 1999 to 2001 (PEK, Yuri and Glynis Lomon) with the addition of Steve Norton as a second horn. Our first Leap of Faith session (Regenerations) occurred In January 2015 in Yuri’s Dorchester MA.

I immediately instituted a grand plan to build the Evil Clown Roster with enough players to perform Improvisation Orchestra performances of Graphic Scores following up on my 1994 Composition Expansions. I also determined to massively broaden the available resources now that I had more resources available. I started buying lots more horns, tons of percussion instruments, electronic instruments and all manner of miscellaneous sound makers.

In parallel with Leap of Faith, Yuri and I also formed Metal Chaos Ensemble to explore the new worlds of sound brought about by all the metal percussion I was accumulating. Starting with the duet Null Theory, we did more duets and also larger groups where we invited other percussion players and some more rock/pop culture oriented players.

I started renting the Lilypad Jazz club in Cambridge for live shows where we would perform a two CD length performance with smaller sub-units for the first hour and everyone together for the second hour as the Leap of Faith Orchestra. Some of the LOFO sets included up to 10 musicians. Leap of Faith also played several shows in NYC with the core quartet.

By the end of 2015 I had started Turbulence for wind instruments, and String Theory for me and Glynis with other String players. The plan was to combine Leap of Faith with Metal Chaos Ensemble, Turbulence, and String Theory into the Leap of Faith Orchestra which would perform large ensemble improvisations and work towards graphic score performances, the first one of which, The Expanding Universe, was performed in 2016.

PEK – 8 January 2024

2015 Performances

(In Reverse Chronological Order)

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