Turbulence
Recipes for Prediction
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… Both Leap of Faith and Turbulence have done quite a few sessions with three horns, bass and drums (and cello with LOF). I think of this as our Art Ensemble of Chicago model and it is a powerful one. Tight groups of players who know each other’s improvisation languages can engage in very interesting, improvised counterpoint as well as textual composition. John, Bob and I are super-tight in the horn ensemble sections and we also each do a lot of doubling on the percussion and electronic auxiliary instruments fully leveraging the broad palette environment at Evil Clown Headquarters.…”
Recipes for Prediction:
Turbulence
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA
2 August 2025
1) Recipes for Prediction – 1:10:35
2) Future Trends – 5:26
PEK – clarinet, basset horn, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, alto flute, Russian wood flute, Indian double flute, piccolo oboe, English horn, contrabassoon, shenai, sheng, accordion, melodica, goat horn, 17-string bass, [d]ronin, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, syntrx, ms-20, lfo violin, daxophone, gravichord, noise tower, spring & chime rod boxes, array mbira, gongs, plate gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, log drums, wood & temple blocks, Tibetan bells & bowls, seed pod rattles, orchestral castanets, ratchet, guiro, flex-a-tone, almglocken, Englephone, danmo, balafon, xylophone, orchestral chimes & anvils, rubber chickens, psychic babbling
John Fugarino – trumpet, slide trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, valve trombone, French horn, penny whistle, ocarina, nord stage 3, prophet, nord stage 3, prophet, moog subsequent,spring & chime rod boxes, array mbira, spring & chime rod boxes, zithers, xylophone, balafon, almglocken, guiro, Tibetan bowls, gongs, seed pod rattles, bells, lfo violin
Bob Moores – space trumpet, slide whistle, pipe xylo, zithers, nord stage 3, prophet, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, orchestral castanets, brontosaurus bell, crotales, glockenspiel, log drums, wood & temple blocks, cow bells, gongs, plate gong, triangle chimes, ratchet, psychic babbling
Scott Samenfeld – electric upright bass, electric flute
Jared Seabrook – drums, gongs, noise tower, Tibetan bells & bowls, almglocken, bells, rattles, moog subsequent, novation peak, Linnstrument controllers, clown hammer
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 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.
Recipes for Prediction was planned as a Leap of Faith set to follow up Leap of Faith Probabilistic Notions recorded several weeks ago with a very similar ensemble. Performances are credited to LOF when PEK and Glynis Lomon are both on the session, but Glynis has been moving recently and was unable to make this set, so I repurposed the ensemble for three-horns with bass & drums credited to Turbulence. Probabilistic Notions was a strong performance, and it is interesting to notice how this one is both so similar and so different with just two differences in personal – the missing Glynis and Bob Moores on trumpet instead of Michael Calianone on reeds.
Both Leap of Faith and Turbulence have done quite a few sessions with three horns, bass and drums (and cello with LOF). I think of this as our Art Ensemble of Chicago model and it is a powerful one. Tight groups of players who know each other’s improvisation languages can engage in very interesting, improvised counterpoint as well as textual composition. John, Bob and I are super-tight in the horn ensemble sections and we also each do a lot of doubling on the percussion and electronic auxiliary instruments fully leveraging the broad palette environment at Evil Clown Headquarters.
I really like this set, and I bet you will too…
PEK 8/3/2025
Paul Brennan Photos
and Video Screen Grabs
