Turbulence Orchestra
Dynamos
Excerpt from Darren Bergstein Review
“… an energy that is nothing short of interstellar… explosions of sound that intermittently upset the equilibrium in a series of dazzling tours-de-force… Who knows what aural Evil lurks in the hearts of men? These Clowns do.”
Darren Bergstein, Downtown Music Gallery
Turbulence projects are orchestrated for multiple horn players drawn from the Leap of Faith Orchestra, here using David Peck’s Broad Palate concept to introduce multiple sonorities, in an octet of four trumpeters (Ellwood Epps, Bob Moores, Vance Provey and John Fugarino), one lower brass (Duane Reed) and three reeds (Peck, Michael Caglianone and Jared Holaday).
Squidco Staff
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… The ensemble ended up numbering 8, including four trumpeters, one lower brass and three reeds. The trumpet section is extraordinary including Ellwood Epps (who has played with Glynis Lomon’s NLC), Bob Moores (long-time Evil Clown regular), Vance Provey (relative new-comer to Evil Clown becoming a frequent contributor), and John Fugarino (blast from the past… Glynis and I played with John in the Masashi Harada Sextet for a few years in the early 90s). Low brass is handled by regular Duane Reed, and the reeds are myself, Michael Caglianone and new-comer Jared Holaday.…”
Dynamos:
Turbulence Orchestra
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 23 June 2022
1) Dynamos – 1:10:13
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, sopranino, alto, & tenor saxophones, musette, bass tromboon, medieval horn, bass flute, sheng, melodica, novation peak, moog subsequent, prophet, syntrx, Linnstrument controllers, [d]ronin, baby bomb piano, 17 string bass, [d]ronin, spring & chime rod boxes, almglocken, Tibetan bowls, crotales, chimes, wood blocks, brontosaurus & tank bells, gong, plate gong, temple blocks, log drums, orchestral castanets, crank siren, Englephone
Michael Caglianone – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, gong, log drums, wood blocks, temple blocks, brontosaurus & tank bells, chimes
Jared Holiday – bass clarinet, alto saxophone, piccolo, alto flute, 17 string bass, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, log drums, wood blocks, temple blocks
John Fugarino – trumpet, slide/valve trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, shofar, gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, chimes, Tibetan bowls, wood blocks, temple blocks, log drums, glockenspiel
Ellwood Epps – trumpet, shofar, almglocken, balafon
Vance Provey – trumpet
Bob Moores – space trumpet, flugelhorn, shofar, almglocken, Tibetan Bowls, gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, wood blocks, temple blocks, log drums, balafon, Englephone, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, prophet, [d]ronin, spring & chime rod boxes, baby bomb paino, Tibetan bowls, glockenspiel, voice
Duane Reed – baritone horn, bass trombone, overtone voice, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, wood blocks, temple blocks, 17 string bass, Englephone, chimes, trine, temple bell
Joel Simches – live-to-2 track recording, real time signal processing
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Darren Bergstein Review
“… TURBULENCE ORCHESTRA – Dynamos (Evil Clown 9311; USA) The latest missive from the Evil Clown in-house big band shakes the foundations gloriously, starting off like the slowly lumbering, calculating beast that it is, until the gargantuan soundstage simply swallows up its own field density whole. Naturally directed and lynch-pinned by master clown himself Dave PEK, Turbulence Orchestra’s mammoth sound creations are equal parts bombast, blim, bluster, and bodaciousness. PEK and his sparring partners (Joel Simches, Vance Provey, Bob Moores, Duane Reed and a host of others) wreak a tradition of ecstatic blowfests that summon the legacies of Ayler, Coltrane, Shepp, Roland Kirk, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and reunite their legacies in broad strokes which embrace the far-flung fantasies of Sun Ra, London Improvisers Orchestra, and Steve Lacy and Evan Parker’s multi-limbed outfits, lacing the entirety with an energy that is nothing short of interstellar. As usual, the company erect a widescreen piece over a hour in duration, through which their uncountable gaggle of horns, electronic interfaces, and percussive armament storm the countryside. Ten-plus minutes in finds PEK and his compadres reigning in the sonic lava to hesitantly probe about the studio, birthing ideas in bits and pieces, a sensitive move here, a more strident lick there, as atmospheric changes alter the barometric pressure until all hell eventually breaks loose. (The percussive stabs, gongs, and ring modulators buzz about like hornets in the distance.) This battle of the wills continues in varying fashion as our ears are treated to ever-shifting modes of saxophone irradiation, late-night meditative reverie, and explosions of sound that intermittently upset the equilibrium in a series of dazzling tours-de-force. Who knows what aural Evil lurks in the hearts of men? These Clowns do.…”
Darren Bergstein, Downtown Music Gallery
Liner Notes by PEK
I formed Turbulence in 2015 as I started to assemble players for the Leap of Faith Orchestra. Turbulence, the extended horn section for the Orchestra (along with guests on other instruments), also records and performs as an independent unit. As if this writing in 2021, we have recorded over 30 albums on Evil Clown with greatly varied ensembles. All the smaller Evil Clown bands are really more about a general approach, rather than a specific set of musicians. A session gets credited to Turbulence when it is mostly horn players and the only musician on all of them is me. The sessions range from an early duet with Steve Norton and me (Vortex Generation Mechanisms) to a 5-horn band with bass and two percussionists (Encryption Schemes) to four albums by the side project Turbulence Doom Choir which feature myself, multiple tubas, percussion, electronics, and signal processing and many other configurations.
Currently, the Evil Clown Roster has about 20 horn players. When I schedule Turbulence sets, I put one on the weekend and one on a weeknight since some players can only do one or the other. This is the first session of the third cycle of Turbulence sets since vaccines became available and I started having YouTube LiveStreaming sets at Evil Clown Headquarters. Since so many players are available, I’m working on the problem of large ensemble improvisation with big groups of Evil Clown regulars mixed with some relative newbies…
The ensemble ended up numbering 8, including four trumpeters, one lower brass and three reeds. The trumpet section is extraordinary including Ellwood Epps (who has played with Glynis Lomon’s NLC), Bob Moores (long-time Evil Clown regular), Vance Provey (relative new-comer to Evil Clown becoming a frequent contributor), and John Fugarino (blast from the past… Glynis and I played with John in the Masashi Harada Sextet for a few years in the early 90s). Low brass is handled by regular Duane Reed, and the reeds are myself, Michael Caglianone and new-comer Jared Holaday.
I’m super happy with this session. The regulars and the newer arrivals really played extremely well together, listening intently and exercising admirable restraint. 8 players is a large band for pure improvisation; when an ensemble reaches 8 players in size or larger I refer to it as an improvisation orchestra, hence the name of this ensemble is Turbulence Orchestra. Generally speaking, as ensemble size increases, so increases the difficulty of making music which is well-formed and tight. I’m very interested in the aesthetic problems of larger group pure improvisations. My Broad Palate concept is a solution to this problem which works by introducing many different possible sonorities. Over the duration of the work, the combination of instruments undergoes tremendous variation, leading to a sequence of very different movements. Most of the players on Dynamos play several horns, and also auxiliary percussion and the other instruments which are strewn all throughout the studio.
Anyway, I like this set and I bet you will too…
PEK – 6/25/2022
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