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. 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 previous Turbulence set, Nested Phenomena, from just one week prior, was originally on the books as an octet edition of Neurodivergent (AKA The Wacky Banter Ensemble).  It is the beginning of winter in New England and the cold and flu season is definitely here.  Count Robot and DNA Girl were sick and their pal Tim who travels in about 3 hours for these sets and stays at their house afterwards also decided not to come.  Here at Evil Clown, I almost never cancel anything, except in the case of extreme weather which makes travel and hauling equipment unsafe.  Sometimes, the show continues with the same Ensemble Name and Album Title.  In this case however, the 3 missing players are the key Wacky Banterers…  So, I repurposed the show into a Turbulence Set with the five players remaining (three horns – me on reeds, and John Fugarino and Eric Dahlman on brass, Scott Samenfeld on bass and Andy Korajczyk on drums).

The current Turbulence set, Golden Ratio, was originally on the books as a Leap of Faith set.  Leap of Faith is the project that features the core duet of myself and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic, and voice.  As often happens, in the weeks surrounding the holidays, people are busy and Glynis withdrew due to a family event.  So, since I never cancel anything unless I absolutely have to, I repurposed the show to Turbulence and added a few more people.  We ended up with the same three horns from last week (Me, John and Eric) plus Duane on double-belled euphonium.  Scott was always going to be the bassist and Michael Knoblach was always going to be the drummer.  Michael usually plays percussion instead of drum set, but when he appears with Turbulence, I have him use the house drum set instead, which makes us a tiny bit more jazz oriented than usual.  When I was in the process of the final promo to my email list and facebook followers, I talked with Glynis about a different upcoming show in the beginning of the new year, and it turned out that her family plans had changes and she was available after all.

I decided to still credit Golden Ratio to Turbulence even with Glynis on board, since it was so close to the show and there was no time to change the materials to credit Leap of Faith.  So, we had two Turbulence shows on back-to-back Saturdays with three horns and bass common to both ensembles.  It is interesting to see the similarities and differences that occur when two similar units perform in the broad palette setting within a brief period.   Both are solid sets featuring a strong trio core of horns, but the addition of cello and double-belled euphonium and the change in drummers really bring Golden Ratio into a different overall space.

An advantage of improvisation over more conventional music is that it does not rely on fixed instrumentation or material which needs to be learned in advance.  Accomplished improvisors, like the group assembled here, can make interesting music regardless of any last second changes to the lineup, so the last second change to a different unit was in no way a distraction for this performance.

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

PEK – 12/22/2024