By Bruce Lee Gallanter,

      Downtown Music Gallery



LEAP OF FAITH - Riemann Surfaces (Evil Clown 9077; USA) Featuring PEK on clarinets, saxes, double reeds, metal & voice Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, Steve Norton on clarinets, saxes & metal and Yuri Zbitnov on drums, metal & voice. This disc consists of two sets, both recorded in August of 2015, one at New Revolution Arts in Bushwick, Brooklyn, the other at the Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA. I was at the set in Brooklyn and I recall it very well since it was one of the most intense music experiences I've attended in a long while! This is the regular Leap of Faith quartet with no guests and they are in wonderful form here! Both sets are long (35+ & 32+ minutes) and wind their way through a variety of sections. Dave Peck brought with him a relatively small number of reeds than his usual mass at home, perhaps a dozen here. Mr. Peck would start with one reed at a time, working his way through them all over the evening. The night also consisted of a solo trombone set from Steve Swell plus Mr. Swell sitting in with LoF on their second set. This was the first set that night and it was a gas!  Ms. Lomon played mainly cello (immensely well!), standing up with occasional weird vocals and something known as aquasonics which is like a metal vase which is bowed. Mr. Norton also just played one sax or a couple of clarinets, taking his time on each one. Mr. Zbitnov is one of the best (lesser known) drummers I've caught in a long while and was integral to the group magic/dynamic. Things build here to an intense frenzy which is almost too much at times yet is still transcendent its own weird way. Both of the sets here capture Leap of Faith at their best, focused, spirited and likely to blow your minds inside-out! This is my favorite of the dozen or so discs I've reviewed of their so far!

     - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG 



Photos of Complex Plane extracted from Kevin Reilly Video - New Revolution Arts - 8/15/15 

Photos by  Shirley Grohs of Complex Plane - New Revolution Arts - 8/15/15 

Photos by Raffi of Manifolds - Lily Pad - 8/4/15 

Video by Kevin Reilly of Complex Plane - New Revolution Arts - 8/15/15 

Video by Keith Martin of Manifolds - Lily Pad - 8/4/15 

Photos by Raffi

Audio CD                                                             Evil Clown 9077

​​​​Leap of Faith  - Riemann Surfaces

streaming, downloads and CD mail order

1) Complex Plane - 35:36
     New Revolution Arts, Brooklyn, NY - 8/15/2015
2) Manifolds - 32:29
     Lily Pad, Cambridge, MA - 8/4/2015


PEK - clarinets, saxophones, double reeds, aquasonic, metal, voice
Glynis Lomon - cello, aquasonic, voice 
Steve Norton - clarinets, saxophones, metal
Yuri Zbitnov - drums, metal, voice 

​​​​Leap of Faith  - Riemann Surfaces

​New Revolution Arts, Brooklyn, NY -    

       8/15/2015

Lily Pad, Cambridge, MA - 8/4/2015

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An Evil Clown and a Leap of Faith by Karl Ackermann

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​On Leap of Faith: "Alien yet familiar, bizarre yet completely fascinating. Expanding, contracting, erupting, settling down, always as one force..." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG

On Metal Chaos Ensemble: "... ​using unique strategies to yield densely active and eerily surreal music, an incredible excursion through experimental improvisation."   - Squidco website staff

Evil Clown Available at Squidco!!

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