Turbulence
Roughness of Surfaces
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… The set features a couple of relative Evil Clown newbies: Vance Provey (tp) makes his second appearance after playing on a recent Leap of Faith session (Revealing the Essence), and David Welans (flutes) makes his second appearance after playing on the recent Expanse Meets the JDME Quartet session (Scope). I’m very interested in the aesthetic problems of larger group pure improvisations. My Broad Palate concept is a solution to this problem which works by introducing many different possible sonorities. Over the duration of the work, the combination of instruments undergoes tremendous variation, leading to a sequence of very different movements.…”
Roughness of Surfaces:
Turbulence
Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA – 13 November 2021
1) Roughness of Surfaces – 1:10:09
PEK – contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, bass flute, bass ocarina, tarota, contrabassoon, sheng, bass tromboon, duck call, 17 string bass, [d]ronin, electric chimes, chime rod boxes, telstar, spring boxes, gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, Englephone, cow bells, almgocken, chimes, crotales, wood blocks, temple blocks, castanets, log drums, voice
Michael Caglianone – soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, Englephone, gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, bell tree
David Welans – piccolo, flute, flute head joint, head joint-dizi conversion
Vance Provey – trumpet, crotales, balafon, wood blocks, temple blocks, log drums, Tibetan bowls, spring & chime boxes
Bob Moores – pocket cornet, pocket trumpet, cornet, trumpet, flugelhorn, Shofar, gongs, plate gong, chimes, trine, Tibetan bowls, brontosaurus & tank bells, cow bells, wood blocks, temple blocks, balafon, log drums, talking drum, crank siren
Eric Dahlman – trumpet, overtone voice, wood flute, slide whistle, spring & chime boxes, gongs
Duane Reed – baritone horn, bass trombone, overtone voice, fog horn, balafon, Tibetan bowls, gong, crotales, almglocken, chimes, wood blocks, log drums
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.
This set, Roughness of Surfaces, is the largest Turbulence ensemble since we resumed this year at 7 horn players doubling percussion. I also play the newest instrument in the Evil Clown Arsenal, the 17-string bass, which just arrived from China after being stuck in customs for months. The neck is really wide, so the instrument must be played tabletop: Sounds great struck with rubber mallets, especially the very low notes. I tried a new configuration for the players and equipment in the studio which worked well. The 4 brass players performed in the second room where I usually have the heavy percussion and the three woodwind players performed in the main room with most of the auxiliary instruments.
The set features a couple of relative Evil Clown newbies: Vance Provey (tp) makes his second appearance after playing on a recent Leap of Faith session (Revealing the Essence), and David Welans (flutes) makes his second appearance after playing on the recent Expanse Meets the JDME Quartet session (Scope). I’m very interested in the aesthetic problems of larger group pure improvisations. My Broad Palate concept is a solution to this problem which works by introducing many different possible sonorities. Over the duration of the work, the combination of instruments undergoes tremendous variation, leading to a sequence of very different movements.
Anyway, I like this set and I bet you will too…
Video Screen Grabs
