The Squid's Ear Magazine


Leap of Faith Orchestra: Supernovae (Evil Clown)

Boston area composer and multi-instrumentalist David Peck developed a unique approach to scoring for this large and idiosyncratic ensemble, referred to as Frame Notation, giving descriptions of sonority, time scale, events, playing occurrences, &c, leaving a great deal of freedom for these extraordinary musicians, as borne out in their incredible and extended performance.
 

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David Peck (PEK)-clarinet, contraalto clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, oboe, dulzaina, contrabassoon, bass trombone, sheng, daxophone, flex a tone, rachet, plate gong, aquasonic,fog horns, taxi horn, wind siren, metal

Glynis Lomon-cello, aquasonic, voice

Yuri Zbitnoff-lead gong, drum set, daiko, festival drum, balafon, metal, wood

Andria Nicodemou-vibes, crotales, metal

Bob Moores-trumpet, large temple bowl

Forbes Graham-trumpet, Tibetan bowl, flex a tones

Dan OÕBrien-clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophones, flute, Tibetan Bowl

Zach Bartolomei-soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, rachet, melodica

Kat Dobbins-trombone, Tibetan bowl, plate gong

David Harris-trombone, tuba, rachet

John Baylies-tubas, flex a tones

Mimi Rabson-violin, flex a tones

Matt Scutchfield-violin, Atlantis gong, flex a tones

Helen Sherrah Davies-violin, flex a tones

BrendanHiggens-bass, rachet

Tony Leva-bass, rachet

Drew Wesley-guitar, rachet

Grant Beale-guitar, flex a tone

Peter Cassino-piano

Kevin Dacey-drum set, vibes, timpani, metal, wood

Sydney Smart-electronic percussion


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Label: Evil Clown
Catalog ID: 9125
Squidco Product Code: 24777

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2016
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at the Armory in Sommervile, Massachusetts, on November 19th, 2016.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Composer and multi-instrumentalist, PEK, set his sights on something bigger with the Leap of Faith Orchestra's Supernovae. The previous incarnation of the LOFO expands from the fifteen musicians on The Expanding Universe (Evil Clown, 2016) to twenty-one players on this new outing. Another noteworthy element of this project is PEK's use of Frame Notation where the score is seen in written descriptions and straight-forward symbols within Duration Bars. The system provides the musicians with immediate understanding of their own parts and the higher-level arrangement of the music.

Supernovae consists of a single track composition running just under eighty minutes. The digital download includes a bonus track. Though the extended piece is not broken out by formal movements, there are clear delineations within the score. PEK's ensemble-not surprisingly-includes enough non-traditional and weird instruments to compete with a Dr. Seuss orchestra. Though they are not playing in a vacuum, that group of instruments dominates the first ten minutes before strings and reeds make themselves more clearly heard. Forty-five minutes in, we have the first case of prolonged melody, darker and more subdued than the overall tone of the first half.

Supernovae gives way to free improvisation overlaying the melody. Eventually the piece introduces a brilliant percussion passage before it reintroduces the non-traditional music elements, but here in a more refined manner. As with all of PEK's compositions, there is-behind the scenes-a painstaking amount of organization that is not always evident in the listening. That is part of the beauty of this album; the non-traditional approach to instrumentation and the lack of adherence to Western structure continue to make the various iterations of Leap of Faith consistently interesting. And interesting look at the written score can be viewed at http://www.evilclown.rocks/lofo-supernovae-score.html."-Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz



"Supernovae uses 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 a defined group within the ensemble (for example, Metal Chaos Ensemble or MCE), a custom group (for example, Tubas), or an individual (for example, Andria Feature).

[...]

The players track the elapsed time on a very large sports clock. There is no melodic, harmonic or rhythmic information specified. This system allows me to compose detailed Ensemble Events without having to notate pitches or rhythms which would require significant rehearsal to accurately achieve. I did, however prepare a memo - a guide to reading the score - which I distributed a couple of weeks in advance of the performance. Reading the Notes and following the score together clearly explains the meaning of all of the symbols."-PEK


Get additional information at All About Jazz

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)
3/13/2024

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"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)
3/13/2024

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"Yuri Zbitnoff is a drummer/composer/arranger who has been simultaneously providing cutting edge musical entertainment and fomenting revolution of the mind for over 20 years.

Yuri can be heard playing in Atompunk Go-Go Jazz pioneers Mission Creep as well as jazz/rock powerhouse, Axemunkee.

Yuri is perhaps best known for his nearly 10 year stint with the roiling cauldron of apocalyptic cosmic jazz thunder known as Enuma Elish.

From 2000 to 2008, Yuri ran Lithiq, a label dedicated to promoting music at the nexus of electronic music, jazz and rock. During this time, Yuri released albums by both Enuma Elish and Sky Saw and performed with SpiralZero, Caduceus, and many others.

Yuri's association with PEK dates back to the late 90's and includes numerous performances with Raqib Hassan's ensembles as well as Leap of Faith. All of these recordings are available on Evil Clown."

-Evil Clown Website (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-yuri-zbitnov.html)
3/13/2024

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"Andria Nicodemou is a multifaceted musician from Cyprus, specializing in vibraphone and improvisation. She is a graduate from Corfu University in Classical Percussion and has received a Master's Degree from the New England Conservatory, in Contemporary Improvisation.

She has been working in diverse interdisciplinary art projects, with multi-media artists, dancers and actors in Europe and USA. She has worked with musicians such as Joe Morris, Anthony Coleman, Marty Ehrlich, Ikue Morri, Tayler Ho Bynum, Tatsuya Nakatani, Ab Baars, Anne La Berge, Gianni Lenoci, Jim Hobbs, Marc Sanders, among others. She was a guest performer at the London Improvisers Orchestra (2015) and the Royal Improvisers Orchestra in Amsterdam (2014).

Andria is the co-founder of the Thread Ensemble, a story-telling, improvisatory trio a result of a 2012 Ensemble Fellowship in NEC's Community Performances & Partnerships Department. With their unique teaching approach, Thread Ensemble has been performing and giving interactive workshops in the Boston Public Schools, ever since.

With her unique voice she has established herself as one of the important emerging musicians in the experimental, improvised music idioms.

In July of 2014 she received the honorary visa for prominent artistic personalities, 'Artist with an extraordinary ability in the fields of art' from the USA."

-Evil Clown Website (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-andria-nicodemou.html)
3/13/2024

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"Bob Moores Having spent most of his life flying under the radar working on obscure projects that may some day come to the light of day, trumpeter/guitarist/composer/improviser/artist/photographer/poet/conceptualist Bob Moores has finally started to emerge into the light playing in the free improvisation collective Fable Grazer and through his solo project Resonator.

Having played every kind of music imaginable on trumpet in every kind of setting from classical to funk to blues to R&B to pop punk and metal to jazz, in small and large ensembles, Bob has settled on playing only freely improvised music at this stage of his evolution, both in group situations and as a solo artist. Moores is an exponent of what he calls unschooled primitive coloristic guitar having started to play in earnest with Fable Grazer.

He has been composing music since he was a child and composes and arranges for a variety of ensembles types, instrumentations and genres."

-Evil Clown Website (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-bob-moores.html)
3/13/2024

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"Forbes Graham born 1977 in Washington, DC. Forbes Graham is a trumpet player, electronic musician, and composer living and working in Boston, Massachusetts. He has worked with a diverse array of musicians and currently is a member of Para Quintet, Rock Flint Contemporary Ensemble, Wild May, Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, Grizzler, Construction Party, Equal Time and Citizens Orchestra. He is the founder of the Rock Flint Artists Retreat, and has appeared at numerous festivals including High Zero, Full Force, and Vision."

-Evil Clown Website (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-forbes-graham.html)
3/13/2024

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"Kat Dobbins graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance from The Boston Conservatory in May 2009, and is an avid performer and teacher in the Greater Boston Area. Miss Dobbins taught at Natick Public Schools, and has an active and rapidly expanding private studio. Kat is a member of The Frequency Band, and enjoys performing for Musical Theater Pits, Orchestras and Chamber Ensembles. She frequently subs with the Boston Civic Symphony, and has performed with The Mercury Orchestra, Turtle Lane Playhouse and the Boston New Music Initiative."

-Kat Dobbins Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/pg/katdbone/about/?ref=page_internal)
3/13/2024

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"John Baylies busked extensively after graduating from Boston University with a bachelors degree in tuba performance. This led to regular gigs with diverse brass and marching bands. Keiichi met John at a few of those gigs and asked him to play in a rootsy free improv trio centered around a three-piece, kinetic, interactive, sculptural installation. John had a blast, and dug into the scene. One night, at a basement jam sesh, he was introduced to Erik Nugent, the inventor of the chromatic didgeridoo.

Erik's goal of bringing chromaticism to the didgeridoo, and John's interest in utilizing didgeridoo techniques on the tuba, merged excitingly. Erik crafted nu mouthpiece prototypes with his lathe, and John gave feedback about the designs. They launched a successful crowdfunding campaign, exhibited at ITEC and ITF, and as of now, about 70 musicians are supporting a catalyst for the fusion of what are no longer two distinct sonic worlds.

John savors intertwining the sonorous sounds of low brass with the ancient tones of the didgeridoo, and often incorporates live audio effects with various MIDI controllers."

-John Baylies Website (http://jbaylies.wixsite.com/tuba)
3/13/2024

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"Mimi Rabson has distinguished herself as one of Boston's most creative and versatile musicians. She is a first-prize winner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in composition. Her compositions and arrangements are published by StringLetter Press (distributed by Hal Leonard). Her published works include arrangements of music by Duke Ellington, James Brown and Cole Porter as well as her originals. Her music and her articles frequent the pages of Strings Magazine. Her newest compositions include a formal string quartet performed and recorded by the Berklee Chamber Players and a string trio that offers classically trained musicians an outlet for improvisation.

Ms. Rabson commissioned 6 fellow Berklee faculty members to compose new works for solo violin. Those works range in style from rock to hip hop and include contemporary practices like improvisation, interaction with computer and effects pedals.

She used her electric violin in a power trio setting with electric bass and drums to record "Music", featuring noise-rock, post-jazz and electro-acoustic compositions and improvisations. Ms. Rabson created RESQ - the Really Eclectic String Quartet that plays her compositions and arrangements of jazz, funk, fusion, gospel and Latin music. That group produced two recordings.

Ms. Rabson was a founding member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band and worked with that organization for many years touring, recording, composing and acting as musical director.Ms. Rabson appeared with Itzhak Perlman on the recording called "In the Fiddler's House" and on "The Late Show with David Letterman". She was featured in a documentary about Klezmer music called "A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden". Ms. Rabson served as musical director to academy award winner, Joel Grey in his production of "Borschtcapades '94". Her composition "Klezzified" was featured on Saturday Night Live.

Ms. Rabson's other performance credits include the premiere of "Fresh Faust" by Leroy Jenkins, soundtrack for "Sensorium"- the award winning film by Karen Aqua, with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Stevie Wonder, Meatloaf, Kristin Chenoweth, the Boston Gay Men's Choir, the Boston Camarata, the New England Ragtime Ensemble, the Klezmatics, Deborah Henson-Conant, the Pablo Ablanedo Octet, and XLCR. She has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion twice, at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Wolf Trap, the Mann Center, the Place des Arts in Montreal and other world class venues.

Ms. Rabson is a sought after clinician. She has presented at The Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp, ASTA, and numerous schools and colleges. Ms. Rabson has had compositions played by the Jazz Composers Alliance. Ms. Rabson is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music and has received several Berklee grants to support her creative endeavors. She is a Yamaha String Educator."

-Evil Clown Website (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-mimi-rabson.html)
3/13/2024

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"Matt Scutchfield is a multi-instrumentalist performing bluegrass, jazz, blues, folk, rock, pop, world, and improvisational musics. He's also a composer, and has composed several caprices & opuses and one symphony. Matt is available for solo or band shows and private teaching."

-Bandcamp (https://mattscutchfield.bandcamp.com/)
3/13/2024

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"I am improvisor, collaborator, educator and performer. I can often be found on stages throughout the USA playing songs or accompanying theater and puppetry with: Bury Me Standing, Jaggery, and They Gotta Be Secret Agents. I am also an active collaborator/educator at Tunefoolery, an artist collective of musicians in mental health recovery.

I love studying the bass, creating music and collaborating with others while sharing what I learn with students and music lovers of all ages. My own study translates directly to the musicians with whom I play and also to the students whom I teach. As I am able to connect more deeply with my own music, I am able to facilitate others connecting to music. By expanding my own ideas of what music is and how people can play music and create sounds, I can then encourage others to do the same in their own way. I currently teach bass at Rockport Central School and offer private lessons. Please contact me at anthonycolinlevaATgmailDOTcom if you are interested in lessons or if you'd just like to say hello!

I also study the sintir (a North African bass lute) and have occasionally performed on trumpet, melodica, accordion and clown nose."

-Evil Clown (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-tony-leva.html)
3/13/2024

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Grant Beale is a Boston-area guitarist, an artist Instructor at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.

-Grant Beale Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/grant.beale.3/about?lst=1389755694%3A100000004118233%3A1538596256§ion=year-overviews)
3/13/2024

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"Syd Smart's life has been a path of using music to create community. He began studies in music appreciation as a child in Cleveland from his mother's vast record collection. Percussion training came from his father and older brother. Other major teachers include: Chief Bey, Milford Graves, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Babatunde Olatunji, Steve Barrios, Ibrahima Camara, Jose Luis Quintana/"Changuito", Angel Sanchez/"Cepillo" and Deraldo Ferreira.

Syd majored in Music Education at Central State University and in 1973, received a Black Music Fellowship to teach and study at Bennington College in Vermont, where he completed his B. A. Degree. He was the founder of "Friends of Great Black Music", a Boston based organization established in the early 1970's to support local artists involved in the music in the African and African-American Diasporas. Syd is co-founder of Boston's annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, now in its thirty-sixth year and the world's oldest living tribute to this master.

Syd has extensive experience composing for dance and with Joan Green, he co-founded the "Children's Dance Project" which eventually expanded to become the "Cambridge Performance Project". a city wide performing arts program. Syd was awarded a "Dance Belt Award" by the Mayor of the City of Cambridge for constant and long standing support of the movement arts community. With Stan Strickland, Syd annually co-conducted "Sound and Movement in Nature", a workshop offered by the Expressive Therapies Division of Lesley University.

In 1992, Syd was a resident performing Artist at the World Exposition, "Expo 92", in Seville, Spain. While there, he also began curriculum development of an Integrated Thematic Unit on Andalusian culture for third and fourth graders in the Cambridge Public Schools. He was part of a team of curriculum developers for a soon to be published curriculum that integrates African Drumming with mathematic concepts.

Syd holds a Masters Degree in Education from Lesley University and has taught instrumental music in the Cambridge Public Schools. He was the Education Manager and Learning Center Director for Mars Music, a national retail chain and largest provider of private music instruction in America.

Syd's performance experience includes: Karamu House, Art of Black Dance and Music, Rod Rodgers Dance Co., Boston Art Ensemble, Sam Rivers, Bill Dixon, Jimmy Lyons, in Spain With Juan Oliva, Angel de Jesus, and in Africa with the Kampala Jazz Allstars. Syd is most recently known for his work with Stan Strickland and "Express Yourself", New Language Collaborative, Samba Viva, Ann Silverman Band, The Tefilah Band of Beth El Temple Center, and action painter, Nancy Ostrovsky."

-Evil Clown (http://www.giantevilclown.com/bio-yedidyah-syd-smart-.html)
3/13/2024

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Track Listing:



1. Supernovae 1:17:10

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Boston Area Improvisers
Large Ensembles
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Perturbations
Deviations Of A System
(Evil Clown)
Leveraging the real time signal processing of Evil Clown house engineer Joel Simches, this project from the Boston free improving collective centers around reedist & multi-instrumentalist David Peck and Simches, who provides the "perturbations" of each player through his processing, making him the 4th in this quartet with bassist Albey onBass and reedist Michael Caglianone.
Leap Of Faith
Degrees Of Freedom
(Evil Clown)
Expanse
Swathe
(Evil Clown)
After receiving interest in joining the Evil Clown collective from Count Robot and DNA Girl (Deb Angelosanto), and in parallel from guitarist Tim Mungenast, collective director David Peck scheduled a session for this 7th Expanse album, adding drummer Michael Knoblach to complete this quintet configuration of the band's electric-oriented approach to space and restraint.
Axioms
Abstract Intensions
(Evil Clown)
Arranged around the core of bassist Albey onBass and poet Jane SpokenWord, who were a part of Cecil Taylor's final trio, this spoken word, drummer-less ensemble from the Boston-based Axiom collective is a live quartet performance with David Peck on reeds, winds, percussion & electronics, and Glynic Lomon on cello and aquasonic, in an extended, eclectic and electric discourse.
Metal Chaos Ensemble
The Korova Milkbar
(Evil Clown)
Leap Of Faith
Taxonomic Dilemma
(Evil Clown)
Looking to configure The Leap of Faith ensemble with a 3-horn front line, Boston wind & reed player and Evil Clown label leader David Peck recruited John Fugarino to perform on trumpet, slide trumpet & trombone, and surprisingly, Japanese pianist Keiichi Hashimoto, who also performs on trumpet, cornet & flugelhorn, with cellist Gylnis Lomon filling out the band for this dynamic, extended set.
Simulacrum
Homunculus
(Evil Clown)
An offshoot of the Boston collective Evil Clown band, Metal Chaos Ensemble, orchestrated for additional electronics and without a drummer, featuring the three core members from MCE--David Peck on reeds, winds and percussion, Eric Woods on analog synth, and Bob Moores on space trumpet, guitar & electronics--expanded with Albey onBass on bass and moog, Eric Zinman on synth, and Michael Caglianone on reeds.
Leap Of Faith
Action As Thought, Thought As Action
(Evil Clown)
Leap Of Faith
Time And Symmetry Entwined
(Evil Clown)
Leap Of Faith
Transmutations
(Evil Clown)
Leap of Faith (David Peck on reeds, winds & percussion and Glynis Lomo on cello & aquasonic) are joined by saxophonist Bonnie Kane, former Cecil Taylor bassist Albey onBass, John Loggia on drums, Joel Simches performing real time processing, and in his debut with the Boston collective, Chris Alford on guitar & signal processing, in a dynamic jazz-oriented extended set.
Leap Of Faith
The Energy Of Now
(Evil Clown)
Reuniting drummer Sydney Smart with Leap of Faith, the core duet from the Leap of Faith Orchestra of cellist Glynis Lomon and reed, wind & percussionist David Peck, in a sextet configuration of theÊBoston collective band with Ellwood Epps on trumpet, Eric Zinman on keyboards, Joel Simches performing real-time signal processing, and Smart on a variety of exotic drums and gongs.
Simulcrum
Meditations on Reality
(Evil Clown)
Simulacrum is an offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble featuring 3 the core members David Peck on reeds & winds, an arsenal of percussive devices & narration, Eric Woods on analog synth, and Bob Moores on space trumpet, guitar, & electronics, joined on this set by Michael Caglione on saxophones, plate gong & spring & chime rod boxes, and Joel Simches providing perturbations.
Leap Of Faith
The Symbolic Method
(Evil Clown)
The 2nd live performance from the Evil Clown headquarters post-pandemic, in a trio edition of Leap of Faith comprised of David Peck on reeds & winds, Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice and Steve Niemitz on drums, plus an extended encore with 3 strings, reeds, trumpet and drums adding Nate McBride, Eric Rosenthal, Vance Provey and Albey onBass.
Turbulence Orchestra
Dynamos
(Evil Clown)
Turbulence projects are orchestrated for multiple horn players drawn from the Leap of Faith Orchestra, here using David Peck's Broad Palate concept to introduce multiple sonorities, in an octet of four trumpeters (Ellwood Epps, Bob Moores, Vance Provey and John Fugarino), one lower brass (Duane Reed) and three reeds (Peck, Michael Caglianone and Jared Holaday).
Leap Of Faith
Coherent Alternatives
(Evil Clown)
Leap of Faith is the core duet of the Leap of Faith Orchestra (LOFO) comprised of PEK on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, here joined by John Fugarino performing on trumpet, slide valve trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and leveraging the vast Evil Clown arsenal of percussion devices.
Simulacrum
Reincarnations
(Evil Clown)
A quartet of collective improvisors focused on the merging of percussion and electronics from the Boston project Simulacrum in an extended transmigration, here with Bob Moores on guitar and synths, former Cecil Taylor bassist Albey onBass, keyboardist Eric Zinman also performing on drum kit, and David Peck on reeds, winds, electronics and percussive devices.
Metal Chaos Ensemble
Nexus 6
(Evil Clown)
One of Evil Clown's most prolific groupings, Metal Chaos Ensemble was formed in 2015 by David Peck and Yuri Zbitnov as a working project to explore chaotic rhythms on metallic instruments, here in a live performance with real time signal processing by Joel Simches, performed with saxophonist Michael Caglianone, bassist Mike Gruen, analog synthesist Eric Woods and percussionist Steve Niemitz.
Graham, Forbes (Forbes / Lopez / Lopez)
Another Day, Another Vector
(Relative Pitch)
Promo copy with line thru bar code. An unusual set of electroacoustic improvisations recorded at Firehouse 12 from a New York trio led by trumpeter Forbes Graham, also on laptop and drum machine, Cecelia Lopez on analog synth, and bassist Brandon Lopez, Graham mutating his trumpet through sound processing, complemented by Cecelia Lopez's synthetic punctuations, all grounded by Brandon Lopez' solid bass work.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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