Turbulence Orchestra
Monsoon
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… The large ensemble size, combined with a core of regulars who double many instruments, performing in the Evil Clown Headquarters studio where huge instrumental resources are available to all the performers exposes the Evil Clown broad palette aesthetic in a dramatic fashion. Over the long duration of the concert length work there are regular transformations across a wide variety of sonorites – sometimes mainly wind instrument sounds, sometimes mixed with heavy percussion or electronic textures, sometimes thin with many players laying out and sometimes dense. Transformation is the point, and these pieces typically have 20 or 25 movements in their 70-minute durations…”
Turbulence Orchestra
Evil Clown Headquarters
28 May 2024
PEK – clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, glissophone, alto & bass flutes, piccolo oboe, English horn, bass tromboon, melodica, lfo percolator, [d]ronin, theremin, 17-string bass, nagoya, soma pipe, spring & chime rod boxes, gongs, plate gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, log drums, wood & temple blocks, ratchet, cow bells, almglocken, chimes, orchestral chimes, Englephone, danmo
Jared Holaday – tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, lfo percolator, ms-20, 17-string bass, nord stage 3, wood & temple blocks, log drums
Dennis Livingston – flute, ocarinas, lfo percolator, prophet, novation peak, LInnstrument controller
John Fugarino – trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, French horn, orchestral castanets, rattles, orchestral anvils, almglcoken, temple bells, balafon, xylophone, spring & chime rod boxes, array mbira, nord stage 3, prophet, moog subsequent, Linnstrument controller
Bob Moores – space trumpet, space flugelhorn, occarina, wood & temple blocks, gongs, plate gong, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, lfo percolator, prophet, ms-20, nord stage 3, psychic mumbling
Eric Dahlman – flugelhorn, overtone voice, flugelhorn, throat singing, nord stage 3, gong, moog subsequent, ms-20, nord stage 3, prophet, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, lfo percolator, almglocken, Tibetan bell, psychic mumbling
Duane Reed – double bell euphonium, vuvuzela, overtone voice, balafon, xylophone, almglocken, seed pod rattles, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, wind siren, rubber chicken, Tibetan bowls, gong, psychic mumbling
Michael Knoblach – drums, gongs, slinkys
Joel Simches – Live to 2-track recording, real-time signal processing
Full Video
Video Shorties
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. A session gets credited to Turbulence Orchestra when the ensemble size is at least 8 performers – typically these sets include bass and drums and are a bit more like jazz than many Evil Clown ensemble performances.
Currently the Evil Clown Roster has about 50 horn players, roughly 25 of these perform at least once every couple of years, roughly 15 perform at least once per year and 10 or so are regulars. Turbulence Orchestra sessions are open to all the horn players in the roster and usually the ensemble ends up being between 8 and 12 players which is the most I can fit at Evil Clown Headquarters if there is a drummer. There was one set in 2016 which was credited to Turbulence Orchestra when Glynis Lomon could not make a Lily Pad performance at the last second and so I renamed the ensemble from Leap of Faith Orchestra, but the other 10 Turbulence Orchestra sets are all Livestreams from Evil Clown Headquarters beginning in 2021 except the recent Turbulence Orchestra & Sub-Units – Smear Out the Difficulties live performance in Brattleboro VT. The TU&SU project now has the largest ensemble size of any active Evil Clown Ensemble (20 or more) and is planned to perform twice a year.
The large ensemble size, combined with a core of regulars who double many instruments, performing in the Evil Clown Headquarters studio where huge instrumental resources are available to all the performers exposes the Evil Clown broad palette aesthetic in a dramatic fashion. Over the long duration of the concert length work there are regular transformations across a wide variety of sonorites – sometimes mainly wind instrument sounds, sometimes mixed with heavy percussion or electronic textures, sometimes thin with many players laying out and sometimes dense. Transformation is the point, and these pieces typically have 20 or 25 movements in their 70-minute durations.
Monsoon was originally booked with 10 players – 8 horns, bass and drums. Most of the horns were regulars except for Melanie Howell-Brooks who bought my old contrabass clarinet a while back and has made a handful of sessions and Jared Holaday who joined the Roster at Melanie’s recommendation. The bass player was scheduled to be Tony Leva who was very active in the Roster in the first 3 or 4 years of the Contemporary period and played on several of the Leap of Faith Orchestra Graphic Score performances. Tony went back to graduate school a while back and we have not seen him on a set for a while. Michael Knoblach joins on drum set instead of his more usual percussion setup which he plays from a seated position on the floor. Anyway, as often happens, especially with a larger group, as we got close to the show Melanie had a family Covid case a few days before and then a few hours before Tony cut his pinky on broken glass while doing dishes and our ensemble size was reduced to 8.
8 players is still quite a bit larger than typical for pure improvisation – just large enough to keep Turbulence Orchestra as the ensemble name. Here at Evil Clown we have a great deal of experience at large ensemble pure improvisation and the Turbulence Orchestra is a well-seasoned unit implementing this aesthetic. The lack of bass changed the character of the session a bit, making it less jazz like than is typical for a Turbulence Orchestra performance, but we were up to the task and had an excellent performance.
Anyway, I like this set and I bet you will too…
PEK – 5/29/2024
Paul Brennan Photos
and Video Screen Grabs
