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 2025, we have recorded over 60 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.  More recently, the Turbulence Orchestra and Sub-Units project has been performing twice a year in Brattleboro VT.

A big reason for doing shows at drummer John Loggia’s excellent venue, 118 Elliot St Gallery, in Brattleboro is to meet other players and recruit them for the Evil Clown roster.  John and his musical partner tenor saxophonist Bonnie Kane, who runs a series called Masters of Sonic Revolution in Holyoake MA, are seriously plugged in to the improvisation music scenes of Brattleboro, Western MA and New York City (since Bonnie lived there for a long time). Two of the four horn players on Phenomena Inside Phenomena are recent arrivals to the Roster after initially performing in a Turbulence Orchestra and Sub-Units performance. 

Cliff White (saxophones) first performed on Tempestuous Hubbub in November 2024 and has since performed two additional times with the Orchestra and made the trek to Evil Clown Headquarters for 4 smaller format Turbulence sets and two Leap of Faith sets.  Kelsey Gallagher (clarinet) is brand new – she made her first performance on The Storms of Jupiter on 23 August 2025, and is already back a week later for her debut set at Evil Clown Headquarters on Phenomena inside Phenomena.  The four horn front line is filled out with hardcore regulars PEK (that’s me) and brass man John Fugarino who has racked up 65 appearances since I first reconnected with him in 2022.

Turbulence sometimes has only horn players and sometimes includes a rhythm section with drums or percussion with or without bass.  Michael Knoblach is our most regular percussionist appearing on about 60 Evil Clown albums by various ensembles in the last 5 or 6 years. Jared Seabrook is an amazing drummer who has been coming to sets for years, but who is generally busy and whom I only manage to book a few times a year.  He has appeared on 10 Evil Clown albums by 3 ensembles over the last 5 years or so. Both players have appeared on Turbulence sessions, but this is the first time they have played together.  The rhythm section is completed with our most frequent bass player, Scott Samenfeld.

Phenomena Inside Phenomena is an excellent example of broad palette improvisation by a slightly large (7 player) ensemble.  Most of the players spend time on the auxiliary instruments in the studio and the frequent instrument changes naturally lead to a steady sequence of highly varied sonority across the duration of the work.

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

PEK 9/6/2025