We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Complete Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub​-​Units performances at Third Life Studios (2017 - 2019)

by Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    13 Performances on 25 CDs!! 57 tracks!! 25 hours of Music!!
    Best deal anywhere on Leap of Faith Orchestra!
    $50 bucks for 25 hours (download) or $100 for 25 CDs!!!
    Sweet!
    ----------------------------
    YouTube Videos for all of the tracks on this box set are available at
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClfRlTeeHnSxRsJTkFakiJw/videos
    In addition, the YouTube links, the original liner notes and any reviews are posted for each album in each of its tracks
    ----------------------------
    Liner Notes by PEK
    .
    Here at Evil Clown, one of my primary goals is solving the aesthetic challenges of large improvisation ensembles. Large bands are capable of extraordinarily rich and complex sonorities frankly unachievable with fewer resources. However, this power comes with an associated difficulty if the music is freely improvised: There is a natural tendency to let a very dense texture be developed which, while very rich and interesting, may not demonstrate much development. In other words, it doesn’t transform enough.
    .
    In the last 50 years, many very different solutions to this aesthetic problem have been created by a huge host of musicians. Most often, some amount of pre-planning or some amount of real time direction / conducting are used to shape the improvisation, introducing more transformation between sections / movements and giving the work much more apparent development. Even with these controls, there is great difficulty in gathering large units for rehearsal. In my opinion, hard artistic problems are interesting ones.
    .
    My solution to these problems is a compositional device called Frame Notation where events are planned against a time-line and tracked with a large sports clock. The directions are simple symbols or English language descriptions of the composed actions which do not specify specific pitches or rhythms. Six of these compositions have been performed since 2015 by ensembles as large as 25 musicians.
    .
    The project of this release, Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units, was designed to advance the interactions of the musician roster in settings from small (2 to 3) to moderately large (10 to 15). At each show we performed four 15 minute or three 20 minute improvisations by different Sub-Unit sections from the Orchestra followed by a 50 minute improvisation by the full orchestra. This is excellent preparation for the Frame Notation Scores both for the players and for my compositional efforts.
    .
    Before the first Frame Notation Score, The Expanding Universe, was performed in June 2016, we did four large unit improvisations at the Nave Gallery, Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church. This was a nice room with great high ceilings and natural echo, but the load-in involved some pretty tough stairs. Since we bring a Uhaul truck full of instruments for these shows, this egress issue was a big problem and I looked for other venues.
    .
    We next did a series of these shows at the LilyPad. The LilyPad is a much smaller space which could fit 8 or 9 players at most. It was also impossible to load-in before 7 pm for an 8 pm show, which made setting up very stressful. We had a bunch of good shows there… I liked the sound of the room, the piano and having beer available for both the audience and band, but the above problems and the high cost of the room rental made me again seek other venues.
    .
    Around this time, I did a recording session with Matt Samolis at Third Life Studios, and was immediately attracted to this room. It is big enough for about 15 players and audience with good egress, a good room sound, and a generous area in the back for cases, etc… Immediately following this event I had Matt introduce me to Susan, who runs the space, and I arranged a residency with shows every 2 months except for mid-winter.
    .
    We had 13 wonderful performances in this space between 2017 and 2019. When Susan’s current lease was expiring, the gentrification of Union Square drove the rental price of the space beyond her means and she was forced to let the space go. We are sad to lose access to this great venue, both for ourselves and the many other creative musicians in the Boston Area who have performed there.
    .
    The generous area of the stage permitted a great deal of instruments to fit. Every show I loaded the van full with a different package of horns, percussion, and other auxiliary instruments. We set up playing stations where the percussion and auxiliary instruments could be played by any from the ensemble in addition to their primary axes. Along with a simple rule that each player should lay out roughly a third of the duration of each piece, and the ability for players to each use a broader color pallet than they would ordinarily have, the improvisations steadily progressed through highly varied sonorities.
    .
    31 different musicians performed on at least one of the 13 shows included in this box set, many performed on more, and some performed on all. This project has really honed our communication as a large improvisation ensemble, greatly benefiting the more recent performances of Frame Notation Scores. As soon as I realized that the venue was not going to be available anymore, I thought that it makes great sense to package this music as a large set – an obvious decision due to the similarity of approach generally and the breadth of the solutions achieved. We will take a bit of time off from this project while I seek a good new venue, but in the meantime, we now have a new document which demonstrates the scope and power that can be achieved by the pure improvisations of larger ensembles.
    .
    PEK – 7/15/2019
    ... more
    Purchasable with gift card

      $50 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CDRs

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Complete Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units performances at Third Life Studios (2017 - 2019) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $100 USD or more 

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.

about

Box Set
of the Complete Leap Of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units
Performances at Third Life Studios
--------------------------
Helix: 3/18/2017 (tracks 1-5)
Surface of Revolution: 5/13/17 (tracks 6-10)
Differentiations: 7/22/17 (tracks 11-15)
Power Series Expansions: 10/28/17 (tracks 16-20)
Vertices: 11/25/17 (tracks 21-25)
Refuting Laplace's Demon: 3/24/18 (tracks (26-30)
Deductions: 5/5/18 (tracks 31-35)
Inferences: 7/7/18 (tracks 36-39)
Retrocausal Strategies: 9/1/18 (tracks 40-43)
Cloud Taxonomies: 9/1/18 (tracks 44-47)
Probability Clouds: 3/23/19 (tracks 48-52)
First Principles: 5/12/19 (track 53)
Virtual Particles: 7/6/19 (tracks 54-57)

credits

released July 15, 2019

Third Life Roster
---------------------Reeds
PEK clarinets, saxophones, flutes, double reeds
Zach Bartolomei clarinets, saxophones, flutes
Dan O'Brien clarinets, saxophones, flutes
Charlie Kohlhase saxophones
Jim Warshauer clarinets, saxophones, flutes
Matt Samolis flute
Bohdahn Shevchenko bassoon
Devin Lomon - harmonica
---------------------Brass
Bob Moores trumpet
Eric Dahlman trumpet, overtone voice
Steve Provizer trumpet, baritone horn
Kat Dobbins trombone
Duane Reed baritone horn, bass trombone
Zack Grass Tuba
John Baylies tuba
---------------------Strings
Glynis Lomon cello, aquasonic, voice
Matt Schutchfield violin
Silvain Castellano bass
Adrienne Schoenfeld bass
Albey onBass electric bass
John Voigt bass
---------------------Percussion
Kevin Dacey drums, percussion, electronics
Yuri Zbitnov drums, percussion
Syd Smart drums, percussion, electroniic percussion
Steve Niemitz drums, percussion
---------------------Piano
Eric Zinman piano
Emilio Gonzalez piano
---------------------Guitar
Reverend Grant Beale guitar, electronics
Chris Florio guitar
Drew Wesely guitar
Chris Florio guitar synthesizer
---------------------Electronics
Eric Woods - analog synthesizer

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Leap Of Faith Boston, Massachusetts

Leap of Faith is a long-term collaboration active from 1993 to 2001 and resuming in 2015 between Glynis Lomon (cello, voice) and PEK (clarinets, saxes, double reeds, voice) with various other regulars (Mark McGrain trombone, Craig Schildhauer bass, Yuri Zbitnov drums, James Coleman theremin, Steve Norton saxes, clarinets) + many guests. Pure improv with little or no planning prior to performance ... more

contact / help

Contact Leap Of Faith

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like The Complete Leap of Faith Orchestra & Sub-Units performances at Third Life Studios (2017 - 2019), you may also like: