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 2024, we have recorded over 50 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.  A session gets credited to Turbulence Orchestra when the size of the band reaches 8 or more performers.  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.

The earliest Turbulence sets (from 2015 on) were either only horn players, or horn players with Yuri Zbitnov at the drums.  Many of the more recent sets include a bass player and drummer which makes those sessions the most jazz-like of all the projects.  As with all the Evil Clown Ensembles the sound palate grew wider and wider as I accumulated more of the instruments now in the Arsenal.  So, at some point, I started using some of the synthesizers and other electronic instruments in this setting, but the first set to really be focused on horns and electronics was a December 2018 duet with me and Bob Moores, Chaotic Flows Are Not All Turbulent, where we each played our regular horns but doubled on synthesizers and electronics.  After that, Synths and Electronics became more common in Turbulence sets, especially since the studio conversion that occurred at the beginning of 2023.  However, we have not really had any of the synthesis specialists in the Roster on Turbulence sets – They tend to appear in performances by Metal Chaos Ensemble, Simulacrum, Leap of Faith and some of the other bands. 

So, this set, Agita, marks the first time that one of the electronics gurus appears with Turbulence.  Faruq Hassan, who is the son of Raqib Hassan, a very important mentor of mine from the 90s (an amazing composer and alto player), is a relatively new member of the Roster who has appeared on several of the Simulacrum performances is the electronics section of this unit.  He plays a bunch of different electronic instruments, but for Agita he brought something called the SP404 MK2 and he used it to play a drum ‘n bass vibe.  It worked really well with the Turbulence Aesthetic which by now has included many of the different great drummers from the roster.  I had Bob bring his space trumpet/guitar/electronics rig which usually goes with Metal Chaos Ensemble and Simulacrum and not so much with Turbulence or Leap of Faith.  Everyone doubled the electronic and percussion instruments permanently set up in the upgraded studio, so with a 5-musician unit, we really covered the sounds from the electronic, wind instrument, and percussion palettes…

Bob, John, Michael, and I are all frequent Turbulence members:  we each do a lot of doubling on the ancillary instruments, and we all play our many horns together extremely well.  This set is an excellent example of the Broad Palette Improvisation concept executed in a wind/electronic instruments setting by improvisors seasoned in the Evil Clown Improvisation Aesthetic.

Anyway, I like this set and I bet you will too…

PEK – 4/7/2024