• Digital Album

  Streaming + Download

  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
  
  ---PEK Liner Notes
  .
  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.
  .
  According to the declared band aesthetic above, I generally do not credit a performance to Leap of Faith or one of its variations unless Glynis is on the session. This time, Glynis had a family issue and could not make the set, but I am still going to call the ensemble Leap of Faith Chinese Orchestra. There are two previous performances by the LOFCO with various Chinese musicians brought by Jimmy Zhao. Jimmy had a band with percussionist Michael Knoblach, trumpeter Eric Dahlman called and a few others called the JMDE Quartet. Early on in my association with Michael Knoblach (the Expanse project) Michael brought the entire JMDE Quartet for a few sessions with me as the fifth player. These sets were credited to Expanse Meets the JMDE Quartet. The next time Jimmy came he brought more Chinese players, and I invited Glynis, Tom Swafford (vln), Kit Demos (b) and Steve Skop (b) for a western string section. This was the first set credited to the LOFCO.
  .
  For this edition of the LOFO I have titled the ensemble the Leap of Faith Chinese Orchestra… Not because it is like a traditional Chinese Orchestra, but because it is Leap of Faith Orchestra with a strong Chinese element. The declared aesthetic intent of the LOFCO is to combine traditional Chinese instruments and aesthetic with modern free improvisation in a large ensemble format. Even without Glynis, for this set we had 13 performers, so the aesthetic intent was met, and I decided that it did not make sense to credit the performance to some other ensemble name.
  .
  For Magic Squares we have 3 horns, 3 western strings, 6 Chinese musicians and Michael Knoblach on percussion. The main studio room fits at most 6 players if there is a drummer, 8 or 9 without a drummer. Typically, the overflow goes in the kitchen, most often the drummer since that also isolates him in the recording and helps the mix. 13 was such a large unit that we put the percussion in a third room, 4 of the Chinese players in the kitchen and the horns and western strings in the studio proper. The video mix has 8 cameras, one of which is handheld by camera operator Paul Brennan. Paul was very busy for this set, since we couldn’t get complete coverage from the static cameras and Paul ran around trying to cover as much as possible the action that was out of frame of the static cameras.
  .
  Anyway, this large unit follows up on the earlier LOFCO sets with a dense work of sound, sometimes with the Chinese sounds forward, sometimes with the improvisors forward, and sometimes a more even blend of cultures. It’s a fascinating aesthetic problem and one that I will schedule as often as I can in the future…
  .
  I really like this set, and I bet you will too…
  .
  - PEK 1/28/2024 ... more
  Purchasable with gift card

  Buy Digital Album   $7 USD  or more

  Send as Gift  

• Killer 13 player edition of the Leap of Faith Chinese Orchestra blending Chinese folk instruments with modern free improvisation

  Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  digipak
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Magic Squares via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
  ships out within 7 days

  Buy Compact Disc   $12 USD or more 

  Send as Gift 

• Share / Embed

about

credits

license