The Squid's Ear Magazine


Leap of Faith: Quest for Uncertainty (Evil Clown)

Joining the Boston free improvising duo of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice--the core duo of Leap of Faith Orchestra--are Bonnie Kane on tenor sax, flute & electronics, and John Loggia on drums and percussion, capturing the extended title track and a brief, "possible outcome" as a summation.
 

Price: $11.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units


EU & UK Customers:
Discogs.com can handle your VAT payments
So please order through Discogs

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



David Peck (PEK)-clarinet, contralto & contrabass clarinets, alto & tenor saxophones, bass flute, piccolo oboe, prophet, syntrx, korg m20, novation peak, moog subsequent, Linnstrument controllers, theremin with moogerfooger, [d]ronin, 17 string bass, spring & chime rod boxes, array mbira, gongs, plate gong, brontosaurus & tank bells, cow bells, orchestral chimes, chimes, temple & wood blocks, log drums, Tibetan bowls, almglocken, orchestral anvils, balafon, xylophone

Glynis Lomon-cello, aquasonic, voice

Bonnie Kane-tenor sax, flute, electronics

John Loggia-drums, percussion, gong


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Evil Clown
Catalog ID: 9357
Squidco Product Code: 34564

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters, Waltham MA, November 11, 2023.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Leap of Faith is the core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice. The ensemble is based in Boston and dates back to the early 90s. We utilize a huge arsenal of additional Evil Clown instruments to improvise long works featuring transformations across highly varied sonorities. At times, the core unit has been a trio or even a quartet. The longest running core unit was comprised of PEK, Glynis and drummer Yuri Zbitnov, who played for the last couple of years of the archival period and the first 5 years of the reboot starting in 2015. The ensemble has always been highly modular, and our many recordings (well over 100) feature the core unit in dozens of configurations with a huge list of guests and occasionally as only the core unit with no guests. Currently, the core unit is the duet of PEK and Lomon and we are regularly presenting LIVESTREAMs to YouTube from Evil Clown Headquarters with other guest performers.

Bonnie Kane (tenor sax, flute, electronics) and John Loggia (drums) are great and very experienced improvisors who both live outside of the Boston area a few hours away. Despite their remote locations, they are fairly frequent participants here at Evil Clown Headquarters, having performed with Leap of Faith and Turbulence Orchestra formations. They have been regular musical partners with each other for years.

I have been interested in the aesthetic problem of large ensemble pure improvisation for years. The Evil Clown Roster is very large (roughly 50 musicians) who have varying levels of participation. Consequently, it is more common for our Livestreaming performances to have 6 or more players in the performance as well as the crew for audio and video recording. Free Improvisation is most often performed by smaller units, with trios and duets being very common. I also like ensembles of this size and we do perform less often with units of this size.

The Leap of Faith edition for Quest for Uncertainty is a quartet comprised of two duets with each duet having a very long history. I like this dynamic in improvisation since the long-standing musical relationships create multiple levels of interaction: Both player to player and duet to duet."-David Peck, from the liner notes




Artist Biographies

"PEK (aka David Peck) is a multi-instrument improviser who plays all kinds of instruments including saxophones, clarinets, double reeds, percussion, electronics and auxiliary sound making devices of all kinds.

PEK was born in 1964 and started playing clarinet and piano in elementary school. In 7th grade he started saxophones, first on alto, then switching to tenor in high school. He spent 10 years playing in rock bands and studying classical and jazz saxophone with Kurt Heisig in the San Jose CA area before moving to Boston in 1989 to attend Berklee where he studied performance with George Garzone. While Berklee was an excellent place to study harmony, voice training and other important aspects of a conventional formal music training course of study, it was not a very good environment for learning contemporary (or pure) improvisation (apart from his work with George). PEK did find, however, that Boston had a thriving improvisation scene, and it was here that he developed his mature pure improvisation language.

During the 90s, PEK performed with many notable improvisers including Masashi Harada, Glynis Lomon, William Parker, Laurence Cooke, Eric Zinman, Glenn Spearman, Raqib Hassan, Charlie Kohlhase, Steve Norton, Keith Hedger, Mark McGrain, Sydney Smart, Matt Samolis, Martha Ritchey, Larry Roland, Dennis Warren, Yuri Zbitnov, Craig Schildhauer, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Leslie Ross, Rob Bethel, Wayne Rogers, Eric Rosenthal, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tatsuya Nakatani, James Coleman, B'hob Rainey and George Garzone.

PEK met cellist Glynis Lomon when they played together in the Masashi Harada Sextet which existed between 1990 and 1992. They developed a deep musical connection which they continued following the MHS; first with the Leaping Water Trio for a few years and then with the first version of Leap of Faith in 1994. Leap of Faith was very active in Boston from that time until 2001 and went through a series of several core ensembles which always included both PEK and Glynis. Other key Leap of Faith core members during this period were Mark McGrain (trombone), Craig Schildhauer (double bass), Sydney Smart (drums), Yuri Zbitnov (drums) and James Coleman (theremin). Leap of Faith was always a very modular unit with constantly shifting personnel and many different guests. The early Leap of Faith period concluded in 2001 with a dual bill at an excellent room at MIT called Killian Hall with George Garzone's seminal trio the Fringe.

At this time, PEK changed careers for his day gig, returning to college for a computer science degree and beginning to work in the structural engineering industry at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. He became far too busy to continue the heavy music schedule, and preferring not to do music casually, he entered a long musically dormant period.

Flash forward to early 2014. PEK was a regular mail order customer of Downtown Music Gallery, the premiere specialty shop in Manhattan for free jazz, contemporary classical and other new music. While in New York on SGH business, he went down to DMG and had a lengthy conversation with proprietor Bruce Lee Gallanter about the early Leap of Faith period. He then sent Bruce a package of about 15 CD titles from the 90s and was pleasantly surprised when Bruce managed to sell nearly all of it. This public interest in the old catalog spurred PEK into getting back into performance. He reformed Leap of Faith with Glynis Lomon (cello, voice, aquasonic), Yuri Zbitnov (drums) and newcomer Steve Norton (clarinets and saxophones) and started to record and perform in early 2015.

Now having access to financial resources always absent in the early period, PEK began to accumulate a huge collection of instruments both for himself and also to expand the palate of Leap of Faith and the other projects soon to follow. He acquired new recording equipment and many new saxophones, clarinets, double reeds, metal and wooden percussion instruments, electronic instruments, signal processing equipment and other sound-making devices from many cultures. He revived his old record label, Evil Clown, and created reissues and new releases for much of the early period work by Leap of Faith and many of his other projects to sell at shows, DMG and the internet (around 100 archival titles).

The Arsenal of equipment has a grand purpose: To establish a large scale aesthetic problem to use the instruments to make long form broad palate improvisations with dramatic transformation and development. The very broad palate enables the long improvisations to evolve with very different movements and pronounced development over their length. PEK started the Leap of Faith Orchestra, a greatly expanded Leap of Faith, to achieve this purpose along with a number of smaller ensembles which are sub-units of the full orchestra including String Theory (focusing on orchestral strings), Metal Chaos Ensemble (focusing on metallic percussion), Turbulence (horn players), Mekaniks (electronics) and Chicxulub (space rock). In all, the Evil Clown roster includes over 40 musicians who contribute to one or more of the various projects, with PEK participating in all of them. Leap of Faith has also had some special guests like Steve Swell (trombone), Thomas Heberer (trumpet), Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet) and Jim Hobbs (alto sax). The Leap of Faith Orchestra happens whenever several of these groups play together at the same time, or the ensemble exceeds 7 or 8 players. The Full Orchestra is a special case discussed below.

The current roster is comprised in part of: - Core Leap of Faith: PEK, Glynis Lomon, Yuri Zbitnov (Steve Norton has since left to go to Graduate School) - Percussion: Andria Nicodemou (vibes), Kevin Dacey (perc), Joe Hartigan (perc), Syd Smart (drums) - Strings: Jane Wang (cello), Clara Kebabian (violin), Tony Leva (bass), Mimi Rabson (violin), Kirsten Lamb (bass), Brendan Higgins (bass), Silvain Castellano (bass), Rob Bethel (cello), Kit Demos (bass), Matt Scutchfield (violin), Helen Sherrah-Davies (violin) - Piano: Eric Zinman, Peter Cassino, Emilio Gonzales - Horns: Dave Harris (tuba, trombone), Charlie Kohlhase (saxes), Bob Moores (trumpet), Sara Honeywell (trombone), Forbes Graham (trumpet), John Baylies (tuba), Dan O'Brien (woodwinds), Zack Bartolomei (woodwinds), Kat Dobbins (trombone), Steve Provizer (trumpet, baritone horn), Matt Samolis (flute) - Electronics: Greg Grinnell, Jason Adams (electric bass, electronics) - Guitar: Dru Wesely, Grant Beale, Chris Florio - Voice: Dei Xhrist

Evil Clown is documenting the ongoing solutions to this aesthetic challenge by creating limited CD editions and digital download albums of every performance and studio session by this array of ensembles. Interested audience can track the development of the grand scale project over the many releases - over 80 albums recorded and released so far between Jan of 2015 and March of 2017. All of the bands are highly modular, changing personnel and instrumentation with each meeting. The result is an enormous amount of music that shares the same fundamental improvisational language but differs from event to event greatly both in sonority (overall sound) and specific detail.

For the full Leap of Faith Orchestra, PEK composes a graphic notation score to guide the improvisation. The full Orchestra is comprised of roughly 20 players from the roster and performs twice a year. Two performances have occurred to date - The Expanding Universe in June of 2016 and Supernovae in November of 2016. Composition for Possible Universes is completed and the work will be performed on May 28, 2017 with another performance (score not yet begun) scheduled for November.

The scores use a device called Frame Notation where written English descriptions of the overall sonority desired and simple graphic symbols are given durations for each player on their part along with direction on when to play and when not to play. The directions are put in little boxes called frames which are arranged on a timeline and are simple enough to be immediately understood by the performers. Horizontal lines, called Duration Bars, extend across the page indicating when each Event (the Frame + the Duration Bar) begins and ends. An Event can be intended for the full ensemble, a defined group within the ensemble (for example, Metal Chaos Ensemble), a custom group (for example, Tubas), or an individual (for example, Andria Feature).

Parts are the full score annotated with Hiliters so that each player's instructions stand out. They can clearly see their individual instructions, but can also see the big picture, enabling far more knowledge about the pending actions of the rest of the ensemble than typical in pure improvisation. The players track the elapsed time on a very large sports clock. There is no melodic, harmonic or rhythmic information specified. This system allows PEK to compose detailed Ensemble Events without having to notate pitches or rhythms which would require significant rehearsal to accurately achieve."

-All About Jazz (https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/pek)
11/5/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Improvising cellist, vocalist and aquasonic player Glynis Lomon graduated from Bennington College in 1975 with a degree in Music/Black Music. At Bennington she studied with musician/composer Bill Dixon and continued to perform and record with his ensembles until his recent death. Glynis has also been privileged to play with Arthur Brooks, Jimmy Lyons, Cecil Taylor, Butch Morris, William Parker, Joe Morris, Greta Buck, Masashi Harada, Lowell Davidson, Raqib Hassan and many others. For almost a decade she and multi reed player PEK performed in the Boston area with their group Leap of Faith."

-Evil Clown Website (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-glynis-lomon-.html)
11/5/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Dedicated improvisor and electro acoustic pioneer, Bonnie Kane's music is formed from equal exposure to the avant-garde, hard core and the psychedelic.

Integrating saxophone, flute, feedback and electronics, her solo and group work traverse the genres of noise, free jazz and improvisation, psych rock, jam band, and bio-composition. She brought her "Fresh Sound Guarantee" to her first show at the Rochester Planetarium, performances at a Bosnian refugee camp, outdoor festivals, art spaces, rock, jazz, and punk clubs. She has toured nationally and worldwide, performing extensively throughout her Eastern USA base.

A bandleader since the 1990s, with over 30 releases, those she has performed and recorded with include: John Spencer, Tatsuya Nakatani, Chris Forsyth, Kevin Shea, Shayna Dulberger, Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut, Blaise Siwula, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Chris Welcome, Federico Ughi, Walter Wright, Andrea Pensado, Chris Strunk, and John Loggia. New collaborations are continually evolving."

-Bonnie Kane Website (http://bonniekane.com/bio/)
11/5/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

John Loggia is a Boston-area drummer who has worked with Bonnie Kane, Blaise Siwula, and the Evil Clown Collective band Turbulence.

-Squidco 11/5/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Quest for Uncertainty 1:10:27

Possible Outcomes of Empirical Phenomena 5:17

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Boston Area Improvisers
Quartet Recordings
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Evil Clown.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Axioms
Extensions To Infinity
(Evil Clown)
Axioms is based around the core trio of Boston multi-reedist, percussionist and composer David Peck, and Cecil Taylor associates Albey onBass (on bass) and poet Jane SpokenWord, here in a performance with collective core cellist & aquasonic performer Glynis Lomon, and guest improviser from New Orleans, Chris Alford on guitar, stomp box and percussion.
Metal Chaos Ensemble
Insanity Is Contagious
(Evil Clown)
Metal Chaos Ensemble was formed in 2015 by reedist & percussionist David Peck and drummer Yuri Zbitnov as a working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments with a rock sensibility; drummer Steve Niemitz now holds the drum chair, and the band is a prolific sextet with saxophonist Michael Caglione, trumpeter Bob Moores, synth player Eric Woods and guitarist Mike Gruen.
Leap of Faith
Spooky Action at a Distance
(Evil Clown)
An acoustic septet edition of the Leap of Faith, the core duet of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, joined by Michael Caglianone on saxophones, flute, clarinet, melodica & water bottle, John Fugarino on trumpet, slide trumpet & flugelhorn, Tom Swafford on violin, Kit Demos on bass, and Eric Rosenthal on drums.
Expanse
Reach
(Evil Clown)
CORNER CUT PROMO
Evil Clown Shorties
Volume 2 (2023-2024)
(Evil Clown)
CORNER CUT PROMO
Perturbations
That's Where the Unknown Is
(Evil Clown)
CORNER CUT ON SLEEVE
Leap Of Faith
Emergent Spacetime
(Evil Clown)
CORNER CUT ON SLEEVE
Leap Of Faith
Scrying
(Evil Clown)
CORNER CUT ON SLEEVE
Leap of Faith / Kane Loggia Hypothesis
Interconnected by Testable Relations
(Evil Clown)
CORNER CUT ON SLEEVE
Turbulence Orchestra
Gust Loads
(Evil Clown)
Turbulence, the extended horn section for the Boston-based collective Leap of Faith Orchestra using label leader David Peck's Broad Palate Concept for large interactive improvisations, here in a 2023 session with three trumpets, trombone, two flutes, two saxophones, the Evil clown percussion arsenal, and two performers using real time signal processing.
Leap Of Faith
Graviton Propagates
(Evil Clown)
With two trumpeters--space trumpeter Bob Moores and slide trumpeter John Fugarino — and the exotic guzheng work of Jiaxin Wan — this edition of the Boston Based collective Leap of Faith with David Peck on reeds, winds, synth and percussion and Glynis Lomon on cello and aquasonic, hearkens to their Leap of Faith Chinese Orchestra as the quintet pursues Peck's broad palette improv concept.
Leap Of Faith
Scrying
(Evil Clown)
Turbulence Orchestra
Jet Stream
(Evil Clown)
One of the largest ensembles in the Boston collective roster, this exotic Turbulence Orchestra set is orchestrated with 4 brass horns--Bob Moores, Eric Dahlman & John Fugarino on trumpets, Duane Reed on double bell euphonium; two winds--David Peck on clarinets, saxophones & flute and Dennis Livingston on flute & recorders-- plus the rhythm section of Scott Samenfeld on bass & Michael Knoblach on drums.
Simulacrum
Archetypes
(Evil Clown)
One of the more electronic/ea ensembles from the Boston area collective led by David Peck, Simulacrum is an offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble, the core being Peck on reeds, percussion & electronics, Eric Wood on analog synth and Bob Moores on space trumpet & guitar, joined by Michael Caglianone (sax), Faruq Hassan (sampler), and Michael Knoblach (percussion).
Leap Of Faith
Radiation Patterns
(Evil Clown)
The core duet of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra comprised of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, are joined by bassist Albey onBass, drummer Eric Rosenthal, guitarist Tor Snyder and brass player John Fugarino, making a strong sextet with a powerful string section in this extended improvisation.
Leap Of Faith
Cyclic Models
(Evil Clown)
A larger ensemble for the Boston-area collective Leap of Faith of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, here extended with two horns, three strings, and drums including Cecil Taylor bassist Albey OnBass, plus John Fugarino on trumpets & brass, Tor Snyder on guitar and Eric Rosenthal on drums & percussion.
Perturbations
That's Where the Unknown Is
(Evil Clown)
"Perturbed" by the sonic intervention of sound engineer and performer Joel Simches, who applies various effect processes to the continually morphing free improvisations of Boston collective players David Peck on reeds, percussion and synthetics, Michael Caglianone on soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, flute & percussion, and Albey onBass on bass and percussion.
Evil Clown Shorties
Volume 2 (2023-2024)
(Evil Clown)
While typically performing and releasing extended improvisations that last an hour or more, before each of the Evil Clown's Livestreamed performances they record a short improvisation, referred to as "Shorties", taking approaches that yield unique character to the longer works, collected here in 15 recordings with permutations of regular collective members.
Leap Of Faith Chinese Orchestra
Magic Squares
(Evil Clown)
A unique and fascinating edition of the Leap of Faith Orchestra, bringing special guests Jimmy Zhao, Yazhi Gao, Jiaxin Winky Wan, Ziya Gao, and Kaixin Hou performing on Chinese instruments to join with the core duo of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, along with percussionist/drummer Michael Knoblach and bassist Scott Samenfeld.
Simulcrum
Meditations on Reality
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER
Leap Of Faith
Time And Symmetry Entwined
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER
Simulacrum
Homunculus
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER
Axioms
Abstract Intensions
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER
Expanse
Swathe
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER
Leap Of Faith
Degrees Of Freedom
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER
Perturbations
Deviations Of A System
(Evil Clown)
PROMO W/ CUT CORNER



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC