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| Ken Vandermark bio |
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| Releases (click to view) Furniture Music Ideas |
| KEN VANDERMARK BIOGRAPHY: KEN VANDERMARK (b. 9/22/64, Warwick, Rhode Island, USA; tenor sax, bass clarinet Bb clarinet, baritone sax; Bachelor of Arts in Film and Communications from McGill University, Montreal, 1986). Since the spring of 1986, Ken Vandermark has worked to expand the possibilities of improvised and composed music. He has worked continuously from the middle 1990's onward- both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe- and his primary creative focus has been contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. Vandermark moved to Chicago from Boston in 1989. Since then he's performed and recorded in a vast array of contexts, and with many internationally renowned musicians, touring on a regular basis in North America, Europe, and Japan for more than half of each year. His concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. Past groups of significance include the DKV Trio, the Territory Band, NRG Ensemble, AALY, the Vandermark Quartet, Spaceways Inc., FME, School Days, Caffeine, Cinghiale, and Steam. Currently, the majority of his work as a composer and improviser has been developed in the Vandermark 5, Powerhouse Sound, the Frame Quartet, Free Fall, and the Resonance Ensemble. In addition, he works on a regular basis with the total improvisation units Sonore, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, separate duos with the percussionists Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy, Lean Left, iTi, and Fire Room. Each year brings additional new projects and collaborations, which expand the range of his work. Vandermark also performs in a solo context. During December of 2008 he recorded his first soundtrack, for the documentary film, Strade d'Acqua (Roads of Water), directed by Augusto Contento. A second soundtrack will be developed in the spring of 2010, for another documentary by Contento, this time about Chicago's creative music scene. It will involve Steve Albini, Wayne Montana, David Grubbs, John Herndon, Rob Mazurek, and Chad Taylor. In addition to his work as a performer, Vandermark has made many significant and highly respected contributions to both the Chicago and International Jazz/Improvised Music scenes by organizing concerts and sponsoring North American tours with a variety of artists and ensembles. With John Corbett he began programing the Empty Bottle “Wednesday Night Jazz Series” in 1996, and it brought musicians from Chicago, North America, and Europe to audiences for nearly a decade. From April 2006 to October 2008 he continued this work by co-directing the "Immediate Sound Series" with Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout; from autumn of 2005 to spring of 2009 he was a member of Umbrella Music, a musician-based group of organizers collaborating in Chicago which also programs an international music festival for Jazz and Improvised Music each November. Citations of Merit: -Selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 1999. -One of the "Chicagoans of the Year in the Arts, 1994" (Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1995) for his work with the Vandermark Quartet. -Selected as one of the "25 For The Future," the most significant improvising musicians under the age of 40, by Down Beat magazine, June 1998. -In 2004, was named among the "Musicians Of The Year" by All About Jazz, New York. -Picked as one of Chicago’s “40 Cultural Heroes” by Time Out magazine in September 2008. |
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| VARIOUS COLLABORATIONS |
| Band Members See individual releases for member information. |
| Releases (click to view) Ab Baars Trio w/Ken Vandermark - Goofy June Bug Collected Fiction C.O.D.E., Ken Vandermark / Barry Guy / Mark Sanders - Fox Fire Lean Left - The Ex Guitars meets Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo Volume 1 |
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| Category: Duos |
| Karayorgis/Vandermark Duo |
| Band Members Pandelis Karayorgis - Piano Ken Vandermark - Reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Foreground Music |
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| Paul Lytton & Ken Vandermark |
| Band Members Paul Lytton - Drums Ken Vandermark - Reeds |
| Releases (click to view) English Suites |
| This group now includes Phil Wachsmann (violin, viola and electronics), and is now known as CINC! |
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| Vandermark/Daisy Duo |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Tim Daisy - drums |
| Releases (click to view) August Music Light on the Wall |
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| Vandermark/Nilssen-Love Duo |
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| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Paal Nilssen-Love - drums |
| Releases (click to view) Dual Pleasure 2 Dual Pleasure Seven |
| Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Ken Vandermark (reeds) began their collaboration in 2000 when the group School Days was formed. One year later they started FME, a trio with the bassist Nate McBride. Since that time they have worked together in many other groups, including the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Lean Left (with Terrie Ex and Andy Moor), iTi (with Thomas Lehn and Johannes Bauer), Fire Room (with Lasse Marhaug), adding Vandermark as a guest to The Thing (which includes Mats Gustafsson and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten). In addition to all of this activity, it has always been a natural idea to include the duo format as a vehicle for their interests in Improvised Music. Nilssen-Love and Vandermark began this began during the summer of 2002, when they recorded the album, ”Dual Pleasure,” in Oslo for the Norwegian label, smalltown. Shortly thereafter, they performed their first concert at the Molde International Jazz Festival. Since 2002 Nilssen-Love and Vandermark have performed internationally and in many contexts (including a Scandinavian tour with the duo of Mats Gustafsson and David Stackenäs in the autumn 2006, a European tour with the guitar duo of Terrie and Andy from The Ex in spring 2008, a North American tour in summer of 2008, and a European tour in autumn of 2009). Their musical approach for the duo context is ferocious in its intensity: a stylistic maelstrom that combines extreme rhythmic velocity with formal deconstruction and re-assembly. In many ways, Nilssen-Love and Vandermark are more unleashed in this setting than in any of their other playing situations, they create an environment for improvisation that is built completely on risk, extreme in both ideas and execution. Smalltown has continued their support and documentation of the duo with follow up recordings to their first cd. These include "Dual Pleasure 2" (2005), "Seven" (2007), and the two albums, “Chicago Volume” and “Milwaukee Volume” (both released in 2009). All of these recordings focus on the duo's approach in concert, portraits or their ongoing development as it's happened live and in front of an audience. April of 2010 brings the pair back to Europe, where they will tour as a duo for the first time in Romania, Hungary, Switzerland and England; Nilssen-Love and Vandermark also return to Germany (Jena, Marburg) and the Netherlands (Amsterdam) on this trip. Catch them when you can- their creative process is based on a relentless search, and their goal is to never repeat themselves. |
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| Category: Trios |
| Caffeine |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Jim Baker - piano, ARP 2600 Steve Hunt - drums |
| Releases (click to view) S/T |
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| CINC |
| Band Members Paul Lytton - Drums Ken Vandermark - Reeds Philipp Wachsmann - violin, viola and electronics |
| Releases (click to view) CINC |
| CINC is an open improvisation trio featuring three of the most critically acclaimed musicians currently working in the field of creative music: Paul Lytton (percussion), Ken Vandermark (reeds), and Philipp Wachsmann (violin and electronics). The group was originally formed after Lytton and Vandermark had spent time playing as a duo, and Lytton suggested Wachsmann to make the unit a trio. The music is spontaneously generated and features a wide range of expression during each performance- at times reminiscent of the severe beauty of Morton Feldman; in other moments the sounds and rhythms come forth with the blinding ferocity of American Free Jazz from the 1960’s. Their first work as a trio was put together for a European tour in the autumn of 2004. CINC was also featured at the Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen Festival in 2005 (with pianist John Tilbury as a guest), and toured North America in June of 2006, where they were a highlight of the Suoni Per Il Popolo Music Festival in Montreal. The group was featured prominently in Daniel Kraus' critically acclaimed documentary film, “Musician.” Lytton and Vandermark worked extensively together in the Territory Band during the 2000's, and Wachsmann performed with the Nilssen-Love/Vandermark duo in London during the spring of 2010, which inspired CINC to reconvene as a trio; they are now preparing a return trip to Europe in February of 2011. CINC released an eponymous cd on Okkadisk in 2006. CINC: - Paul Lytton (percussion) - Ken Vandermark (reeds) - Philipp Wachsmann (violin and electronics) PAUL LYTTON: London-based percussionist, Paul Lytton studied drums from the age of 16 and later became interested in European improvised music through contact with musicians such as Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and Derek Bailey. He started constructing his own instrumentation including drums, amplified instruments and other objects by the early ‘70s. Paul was a founding member of the London Musician's Co-op and performed within the London Improvisers' scene until 1975. That next year, he became a founding member of the Aachen Musicians' Co-op. “The percussionist’s world has expanded further and further while remaining, essentially, the same: he uses the raw materials that percussionists have used since music began, but the methods and combinations of methods have evolved to the most all-embracing lengths. A percussionist can use almost anything. Paul Lytton has for many years added the extra dimension of 'live electronics' to his operations with percussion. The results are unique. He doesn't so much abolish timekeeping as recreate time in a still, huge space; great masses of tone and structure seem to hang in the air. It's a disquieting experience.” (R. Cook) KEN VANDERMARK: (b. 9/22/64, Warwick, Rhode Island, USA; tenor sax, bass clarinet Bb clarinet, baritone sax; Bachelor of Arts in Film and Communications from McGill University, Montreal, 1986). Since the spring of 1986, Ken Vandermark has worked to expand the possibilities of improvised and composed music. He has worked continuously from the middle 1990's onward- both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe- and his primary creative focus has been contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. Vandermark moved to Chicago from Boston in 1989. Since then he's performed and recorded in a vast array of contexts, and with many internationally renowned musicians, touring on a regular basis in North America, Europe, and Japan for more than half of each year. His concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. Past groups of significance include the DKV Trio, the Territory Band, NRG Ensemble, AALY, the Vandermark Quartet, Spaceways Inc., FME, School Days, Caffeine, Cinghiale, and Steam. Currently, the majority of his work as a composer and improviser has been developed in the Vandermark 5, Powerhouse Sound, the Frame Quartet, Free Fall, and the Resonance Ensemble. In addition, he works on a regular basis with the total improvisation units Sonore, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, separate duos with the percussionists Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy, Lean Left, iTi, and Fire Room. Each year brings additional new projects and collaborations, which expand the range of his work. Vandermark also performs in a solo context. During December of 2008 he recorded his first soundtrack, for the documentary film, Strade d'Acqua (Roads of Water), directed by Augusto Contento. A second soundtrack will be developed in the spring of 2010, for another documentary by Contento, this time about Chicago's creative music scene. It will involve Steve Albini, Wayne Montana, David Grubbs, John Herndon, Rob Mazurek, and Chad Taylor. In addition to his work as a performer, Vandermark has made many significant and highly respected contributions to both the Chicago and International Jazz/Improvised Music scenes by organizing concerts and sponsoring North American tours with a variety of artists and ensembles. With John Corbett he began programing the Empty Bottle “Wednesday Night Jazz Series” in 1996, and it brought musicians from Chicago, North America, and Europe to audiences for nearly a decade. From April 2006 to October 2008 he continued this work by co-directing the "Immediate Sound Series" with Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout; from autumn of 2005 to spring of 2009 he was a member of Umbrella Music, a musician-based group of organizers collaborating in Chicago which also programs an international music festival for Jazz and Improvised Music each November. Citations of Merit: -Selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 1999. -One of the "Chicagoans of the Year in the Arts, 1994" (Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1995) for his work with the Vandermark Quartet. -Selected as one of the "25 For The Future," the most significant improvising musicians under the age of 40, by Down Beat magazine, June 1998. -In 2004, was named among the "Musicians Of The Year" by All About Jazz, New York. -Picked as one of Chicago’s “40 Cultural Heroes” by Time Out magazine in September 2008. PHILIPP WACHSMANN: Philipp Wachsmann, performer, violinist, and improviser since 1969, has particular interest in freeing and expanding what music can do and say, a focus on color, acoustic and emotional space, and in creating an imaginary world of interaction. His starting point is with the natural sound of the violin, which is then extended with electronics of various kinds. Often performing solo, he has worked with painters, dance, architecture, his own and other's films, mixed media and electro acoustic recording. His music often is in empathy with some abstract visual art and aspects of contemporary thinking. Process, thoughts, experience, sound and context are part of the tools brought to bear on the music. Time is also displaced - music is in the moment, but draws on a wealth of involvements and experiences from other times. Recent work includes compositions for large ensembles, one with conductors, another with film and work using more conventional resources for Chamber Orchestra. Ensembles include the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra, The Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble*, King Ubu Orchestra, LIO, Iskra 1903, Duo with Paul Lytton*, Quintet Moderne, Lines, Xaxa, Pistri, Duo with the bassist Teppo Hauta-aho and his own new string trio. He has made over seventy recordings (on Incus, Bead, Emanem, ECM, Ogun, FMP, Sofa, Po Torch, Intakt, For 4 Ears, Nato, Leo, Hat Art, Maya, Soul Note, Random Acoustics, Splasch) of which two are solos 'Writing in Water' and 'Chathuna', and most recently 'Refractions in Air' with the electronics expert Michael Bunce and 'Apparitions' on Leo Records. |
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| DKV Trio |
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| Band Members Hamid Drake: drums/percussion Kent Kessler: double bass Ken Vandermark: reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Double or Nothing (with AALY Trio) DKV Live Fred Anderson/DKV Trio Baraka Deep Telling (w/Joe Morris) Live in Wels & Chicago, 1998 Trigonometry |
| The DKV Trio was formed in the Summer of 1994 and has been called "the best working band in Chicago jazz" (Chicago Reader, Jan 31, 97). The group is a free-improvisation unit that uses "song structures;" many of their spontaneous compositions sound like they are based on written materials, and they focus on intensive explorations of different approaches to rhythm, moving anywhere from "free" time to pulse based grooves. In addition to using these methods the band also incorporates influences from other cultures (African, Greek, Middle Eastern) and non-jazz styles (funk, late 20th century composition, delta blues) to expand the base for their music. Each member of the band is considered to belong to list of the best musicians working on the current improvised music scene. Hamid Drake is one of the most in demand creative jazz drummers in the world. He has had long standing associations with Peter Brotzmann, Fred Anderson, Georg Graewe, Bill Laswell, Pharaoh Sanders, Yusef Lateef (among others), and he worked extensively with Don Cherry from 1978 until Cherry's passing in 1995. Aside from his work with improvised music, Hamid has performed and recorded with a number of reggae and world music ensembles, such as the I-Tals, the Heptones, and Africassa. Kent Kessler is probably the most significant bassist living in Chicago today, performing with a huge array of visiting musicians (Peter Brotzmann, Georg Graewe, Mats Gustafsson, Joe Morris, and Joe McPhee, to name a few) as well as regularly working with some of the most recognized ensembles playing in the city (Vandermark Five, NRG Ensemble, Jeb Bishop Trio). The final member of the group, Ken Vandermark, has been a significant part of the Chicago music scene since 1992, when the Vandermark Quartet was formed. Since then he has led some of the city's best improvising groups: the Vandermark 5, the Territory Band, Sound In Action Trio, Spaceways Inc.; and he has worked with some of the best ensembles on the international scene, such as the Peter Brotzmann Tentet and the Swedish trio AALY. In 1999 he was the youngest musician to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Besides regular performances in Chicago, the DKV Trio has toured extensively in the United States and Europe and has made several appearances at major international Jazz Festivals. The group has also collaborated with Fred Anderson, Joe Morris, and the AALY Trio. In December of 2000 the band won the Cadence Magazine Readers' Poll for best album of the year for Live In Wels & Chicago, 1998. In 2002 the band released two new albums: the double cd Trigonometry and the album Double Or Nothing (with the AALY Trio), both on Okka Disk. |
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| Fire Room |
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| Band Members Ken Vandermark: reeds Lasse Marhaug: electronics Paal Nilssen-Love: percussion |
| Releases (click to view) Broken Music |
| **more info coming soon!!** |
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| FME (Free Music Ensemble) |
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| Band Members Nate McBride - Bass Paal Nilssen-Love - Drums Ken Vandermark - Reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Cuts Live at the Glenn Miller Cafe, Stockholm-Feb 27, 2002 Underground Montage |
| Since June of 2001, Ken Vandermark (reeds), Nate McBride (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) have literally, been dropping the jaws of audiences here and abroad. FME is likely one of the most adventurous projects of all Ken Vandermark’s work. This group works in a modular system of composition, allowing each element to be utilized by any member of the group. Sets are constructed by re-sequencing material, and the components remain variable during each performance, rather than being standardized. This forces the members to constantly reinvent and re-interpret the music from moment to moment. The end result: anything that functions as an inspiring platform for improvisation can and will be used. Last September, the trio embarked on their second North American tour with a new Okka Disk release in tow, entitled Cuts. Cuts documents sessions that took place in Oslo after an extensive tour in North America and Europe last year (FME also recorded a new album while on the most recent tour, creating a storehouse of material for the band to select the best work for a new release on Okka Disk in 2006.). What is heard on their new release, particularly on “Broken” and “Slip” is the influence of Shellac and This Heat—rock music that deconstructs standard genre models. Another source of impact came from the indeterminate construction ideas of John Cage, where set components are put into motion without the control of a single individual. |
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| Free Fall |
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| Band Members Håvard Wiik - piano Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass Ken Vandermark - Bb and bass clarinets |
| Releases (click to view) Amsterdam Funk Furnace The Point in a Line |
| The trio Free Fall was organized by bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, reedist Ken Vandermark, and pianist Håvard Wiik in 2001 as an opportunity to work together in a chamber music environment and without percussion. Inspired in part by Jimmy Giuffre's classic group with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, the band quickly found its own voice, utilizing velocity, space, and sound by incorporating combinations of pulse-based and open time, distributing melodic responsibility through its fragmentation, and building expression through a dialectic between understatement and explosiveness. The group's musical conception is built on their familiarity with developments in improvised music since the middle 1960's (such as the work of the AACM, Anthony Braxton, and European improvisers like Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Misha Mengelberg, and Peter Brötzmann); as well as their interest in 20th century composition (in particular Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, John Cage, Morton Feldman, and György Ligeti), all of whom have considerably shifted the architectural possibilities of music. Free Fall have always performed their own compositions and released their first album, called "Furnace," (on Wobbly Rail) to great acclaim in 2002. After extensive tours in Europe and the United States, the trio went back into the studio during November 2004, to record its second album, "Amsterdam Funk." This was issued on the Norwegian label, smalltownsuperjazz, with whom they have continued to collaborate. In addition to highlighting the band's developing communication and compositional strategies, the second recording included freely improvised performances for the first time- a parallel and equally powerful way of performing by the trio. Continued work in Europe and North America led to the developments of "The Point In A Line," recorded in Chicago during the summer of 2006. This album was released by smalltown in 2007, and included both new compositions and total improvisations. Their activity as a group escalated in 2008, with a featured performance at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, a recording of completely improvised music in Germany, and another extensive tour of Europe that brought them to Moscow for the first time. This new music will come out in time for a June 2009, tour of the West Coast of the United States. Then, in July, they plan to head back to Germany to record a new collection of short pieces for improvisers. |
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| Morris/Vandermark/Gray |
| Band Members Joe Morris - electric guitar Ken Vandermark - tenor saxophone Luther Gray - drums |
| Releases (click to view) Rebus |
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| Sonore |
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| Band Members Ken Vandermark - tenor/baritone sax, b-flat clarinet Mats Gustafson - tenor/baritone sax Peter Brötzmann - alto/tenor sax, a-clarinet/tarogato |
| Releases (click to view) No One Ever Works Alone Only the Devil Has No Dreams Call Before You Dig |
| Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, and Ken Vandermark are three of the leading voices in contemporary improvised music. Together they have formed SONORE, a reed trio organized to investigate the melodic, rhythmic, and textural possibilities of freely improvised music. Working together in the PETER BRÖTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET since 1998, these musicians first performed in a trio formation during the June, 2002 North American tour with the TENTET for a radio broadcast on CKUT in Montreal. It was clear from that first concert that this line-up was musically unique. They worked together again that fall, performing and recording during a festival organized by Gustafsson in Ystad, Sweden. Both of these initial encounters provided a fascinating starting ground for the trio's instrumental combinations and communication, but it was during their first tour of Europe in October, 2003 that the group's identity and approach fully developed. Two weeks of concerts that saw the three playing every night in cities ranging from Vienna to Istanbul, Ljubljana to Cologne, travelling by plane, train, and van with their equipment (alto, tenor, baritone saxophones; Eb, A, Bb, and bass clarinets; taragato and flageolet) enabled them to explore an open-ended range of improvisation on a daily basis and accelerated SONORE's creative growth. Luckily, a number of these concerts were recorded, including the final performance of their tour which took place in Cologne. This document was released as "No One Ever Works Alone," on Okka Disk in September, 2004 as the group's first album. The trio organized a North American to coincide with the CD's release to bring their music to audiences in the U.S. and Canada for the first time. For more than three decades German multi-instrumentalist Peter Brötzmann has been a central figure for the European improvised music scene. Today he leads two of the most significant ensembles playing this music, the DIE LIKE A DOG TRIO and the CHICAGO TENTET. Mats Gustafsson is one of the most innovative improvisers of his generation, working on a regular basis with musicians like Joe McPhee, Barry Guy, and Thurston Moore, as well as leading the free jazz ensemble, THE THING. Since the mid-Nineties, Chicago has been one of the major international centers for improvised music and Ken Vandermark has been at the cutting edge of its development both as a musician and as a presenter and organizer. SONORE's music integrates the varied musical backgrounds of these three musicians, blending common ground and building new directions in improvisation. Unlike the traditional jazz saxophone quartet, this group doesn't attempt to replicate a classical string ensemble by placing the musicians in hierarchical roles (i.e. the lowest member of the band laying down a foundation through ostinatos, vamps, or other means of support for the higher pitched instruments to be featured over, either through the main melodic content or featured solos). In SONORE, solos, duos, and trios built from various reed combinations shift and develop through spontaneous musical requirements. The group explores sonic textures, melodies, integrated rhythmic statements, or whatever other musical techniques seem to inspire them and the music during their improvised performances. SONORE's music is intense, beautiful, introspective, cutting-edge, and could be played by no one else. |
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| Sound in Action Trio |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Robert Barry, Tim Mulvenna (original drummer), Tim Daisy (current drummer) |
| Releases (click to view) Design in Time The Gate |
| **New recording, entitled 'The Gate' to be released in August 2006 on Atavistic records!!** |
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| Tripleplay |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Nate McBride - bass Curt Newton - drums |
| Releases (click to view) Gambit Expansion Slang |
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| Category: Quartets |
| 4 Corners |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark (baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet), Magnus Broo (trumpet), Adam Lane (double bass), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). |
| Releases (click to view) 4 Corners |
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| Bridge 61 |
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| Band Members Tim Daisy: drums, percussion Nathan McBride: acoustic & electric basses Jason Stein: bass clarinet Ken Vandermark: reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Journal |
| BRIDGE 61 is a new improvised music cooperative formed in Chicago during December, 2004, by Tim Daisy (drums), Nate McBride (acoustic and electric bass), Jason Stein (bass clarinet), and Ken Vandermark (reeds). All four members contribute to the ensemble by submitting compositions, considering arrangements, and working through material equally. The band is focused on utilizing its existing histories as a source for new potential in musical exploration (Daisy has worked with Vandermark in the VANDERMARK 5, SOUND IN ACTION TRIO, CRISIS ENSEMBLE, and with both Vandermark and McBride as a sub for Paal Nilssen-Love during the first North American Tour by FME. In addition to that trio, McBride has worked with Vandermark in SPACEWAYS INC. and TRIPLEPLAY). They are also attempting to develop the widest possible range of rhythmic and melodic approaches to contemporary improvisation and composition. The combination of instruments at their disposal- clarinets, percussion, acoustic and electric bass, saxophones- allows the ensemble to utilize a startling range of sound and tactics with the material, easily moving from the character of an austere chamber ensemble to that of radical electric noise or to a kinetic energy hymn in any given set during a performance. Most important, however, is that the band makes the connection between these varied aesthetics and gives them formal sense. Starting with an intense performance schedule in the winter of 2004-2005, European and North American tours organized for later in the year, and plans to also record a first album in 2005, BRIDGE 61 seeks to be a major entry point into the investigation of contemporary music during our time. |
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| Hoxha |
| Band Members Paul Rutherford - trombone Ken Vandermark - reeds Torsten Müller - bass Dylan van der Schyff - drums |
| Releases (click to view) Hoxha |
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| iTi |
| Band Members Johannes Bauer: trombone Paal Nilssen-Love: drums Thomas Lehn: analogue synthesizer Ken Vandermark: reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Live In St. Johann |
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| The Frame Quartet |
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| Band Members Tim Daisy (drums), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Nate McBride (electric and acoustic bass), Ken Vandermark (tenor sax/Bb clarinet). |
| Releases (click to view) 35mm |
| This ensemble, formed in early 2007, presents Ken Vandermark's most recent strategies for the integration of composition and improvisation. In addition to his tenor sax and clarinet, the line-up features long-time associates Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & electronics), Nate McBride (acoustic & electric bass, electronics), and Tim Daisy (drums & percussion). All of the members of the quartet have worked with Vandermark in other formats, performing concerts in North America and Europe for many years. Collaborations of particular note include the Vandermark 5 (with Tim Daisy and Fred Lonberg-Holm), the Free Music Ensemble and Powerhouse Sound (with Nate McBride). The compositions Vandermark has written for this group move further away from the jazz tradition than those for his previous bands. Utilizing adventurous ideas from other genres, such as underground Rock and New Music, or sources like Ennio Morricone's approach to film scoring, he has created a vehicle of expression that sounds and performs unlike any other music group working today. Certain organizational concepts have been taken from construction methods found in the cinema, such as montage, cross cuts and cross fades. This has been done to redirect the improvising, shifting it away from the conventional development found in most contemporary music environments. All of the predetermined elements are interfaced with a variety of improvisational tactics; the pieces can be spontaneously reformatted at each performance. In a sense, the actual structure of the music is improvised by the band, and with systems that can't always be predicted by the members of the group. In addition, each piece is always conducted by a different performer in the band. The Frame Quartet began its work together on a tour of Europe in January, 2007. Since then they have been performing in their hometown of Chicago, developing new material together. The quartet returned to Europe a second time during September of 2009, and the ensemble recorded their first album, “35mm,” for Okka Disk in July of that year. In 2010 the group continues to explore the structural innovations Vandermark has brought to the unit with performances in Chicago and Canada. |
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| Category: Quintets |
| Powerhouse Sound |
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| Band Members version 2.0 (CURRENT): Ken Vandermark: reeds Nate McBride: electric bass, effects Lasse Marhaug: electronics Paal Nilssen-Love: drums version 1.0(pictured): Ken Vandermark: reeds Nate McBride: electric bass, effects Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten: electric bass Jeff Parker: guitar, electronics John Herndon: drums |
| Releases (click to view) OSLO/CHICAGO: (((BREAKS))) |
| Powerhouse Sound is John Herndon (drums), Nate McBride (electric bass/electronics), Jeff Parker (electric guitar/electronics), and Ken Vandermark (tenor sax). Originally formed by Vandermark in the summer of 2005 with McBride and musicians from Oslo- Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (electric bass), Lasse Marhaug (electronics), and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums)- the group shifted to a Chicago based unit in 2006. Both versions of the band recorded, and these different approaches to Vandermark's original material were released as a double cd called, “Breaks,” on Atavistic in the spring of 2007. The first set of compositions was inspired by the rhythmic ideas of James Brown, the dub concepts of Lee Perry, and the collage approach of Public Enemy. Much of the music was written from the perspective of the bass, building the material from the bottom up. The band has developed continually since its inception, and the new pieces composed for the quartet have stretched their aesthetic to include elements of Afrobeat, the post-Punk music of England (Wire, This Heat), and the later electric experiments of Miles Davis. Aside from a regular performance schedule in Chicago, the group has toured Europe (in the spring of 2007), and is planning an upcoming road trip of North America, connected to their invitation to play at the 2010 Newport Jazz Festival. Coinciding with this tour will be the release of their second album, a double lp issued by Laurence Family, called “Overlap.” Powerhouse Sound delves deep into a Funk-based expression of rhythm and time, their improvisations push against the edge of melodic expectation with an energy derived from underground Rock. In addition, the band has a willingness to rip the music into shards of texture, experimenting with shape and form. This unique combination of discipline and abandon sets the group apart from any other ensemble working today. |
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| School Days |
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| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Kjell Nordeson - vibes Jeb Bishop - trombone Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten - bass Paal Nilssen-Love - drums |
| Releases (click to view) In Our Times Crossing Division w/ The Thing - The Music of Norman Howard |
| The group SCHOOL DAYS was formed in the Spring of 2000. Originally a quartet put together by reedist Ken Vandermark, the ensemble was expanded in the Fall of that year in order to add the Swedish vibist Kjell Nordeson to the ensemble. The other members of the band are trombonist Jeb Bishop and, from Norway, the bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. Though a relatively new ensemble, the band contains a number of long standing musical relationships within it: Bishop and Vandermark have been working together in the critically acclaimed VANDERMARK 5 for the last five years; Vandermark joined the the internationally renowned AALY, which features Nordeson on the drums, in 1996; and Haker Flaten and Nilssen-Love have been working together as one of the most in demand rhythm sections on the Norwegian free-jazz scene since the middle 1990s. SCHOOL DAYS released its first recording, Crossing Division, on the Okka Disk label in the end of 2000. It was recorded by the quartet version of the group in Chicago during March of that year, and features original compositions by Bishop and Vandermark as well as two pieces by Roswell Rudd. Esthetically, the band derives much of its inspiration from the classic ensembles of the 1960s free-jazz period in the United States, groups like Ornette Coleman’s Quartet, Cecil Taylor’s Units, and Archie Shepp’s New York Contemporary Five. SCHOOL DAYS also builds on developments that have occurred in improvised music during the years since then, however. The work of Peter Brotzmann, Misha Mengelberg, Evan Parker, and Anthony Braxton has made an important impact on the ensemble; which has resulted in an approach to improvised music that is compositionally based, but highly spontaneous, containing a tremendous open ended rhythmic and melodic intensity. Aside from the work done in Chicago to record Crossing Division, the group also toured Scandinavia in November of 2000 (with Nordeson included on vibes). In 2001 SCHOOL DAYS toured the West Coast of the North America in May/June, and in November they returned to Scandinavia for a series of concerts and to record their second album. This was released in May 2002 by Okka Disk under the title In Our Times. The band toured Europe during the Spring of 2002 and the U.K. in November of that year. Their most recent recording, Nuclear Assembly Hall, was in made collaboration with the Scandinavian group, Atomic, during August of 2002 and will be released on Okka Disk in March of 2003. |
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| Two Days in December |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Raymond Strid, Sten Sandell, David Stackenäs, Kjell Nordeson |
| Releases (click to view) Two Days in December |
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| Vandermark 5 |
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| Band Members Tim Daisy: percussion Dave Rempis: saxophones Kent Kessler: bass Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello Ken Vandermark: reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Burn The Incline Simpatico Single Piece Flow Target or Flag Acoustic Machine Airports for Light Elements of Style, Excercises in Surprise Free Jazz Classics Vol. 1&2 The Color of Memory Alchemia - V5 Live Free Jazz Classics Vols. 3 & 4 A Discontinuous Line Beat Reader Four Sides to the Story Annular Gift |
| Ken Vandermark formed his quintet, the VANDERMARK 5, during the spring of 1996. Since then, he has used the ensemble as a vehicle to generate new ideas about composition and improvisation; work that has led the standard album reference, the Penguin Guide To Jazz on Cd, to call the group “a modern-day band for the jazz ages.” The band's current members have all had years of performance experience with a wide variety of music and musicians. This, coupled with the range of instrumentation and stylistic potential held by the ensemble, allows Vandermark to compose material that runs the gamut of musical possibilities- incorporating elements from Jazz history, contemporary composition, Funk and Rock throughout the band's forward thinking performances. 2009 has proven to be an auspicious year for the group, with a European tour in March, a North American tour in August that includes an invitation to perform at this year's legendary Newport Jazz Festival, the release in September of a new album, called Annular Gift, recorded for Not Two Records (the Polish label which has already issued the critically acclaimed Alchemia Box Set and the double LP, Four Sides To The Story, by the band). Despite a career of more than a dozen years, the quintet remains committed to an active and ongoing pursuit of music beyond categories. |
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| Category: Trios - Inactive |
| AALY Trio |
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| Band Members Mats Gustafsson 1986; alto, tenor & baritone saxes Kjell Nordeson 1986; drums Göran Lindelöw 1986-1988; guitar Niklas Billström 1988-1995; bass Peter Janson 1995; bass Ken Vandermark 1996; tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet |
| Releases (click to view) Double or Nothing (with DKV Trio) Hidden in the Stomach Stumble Live at the Glenn Miller Cafe I Wonder if I Was Screaming |
| "The two horn players thrust and parry over originals and jazz standards by Albert Ayler and Joe Harriott, while AALY bassist Peter Janson and drummer Kjell Nordeson underpin their explorations with a most congenial brand of free-form swing." – Bob Blumenthal, The Boston Globe, September 1999 "It´s swinging in powerfully irregular phrases. Tones are splintered like parts of a granite block exploded into pieces. The music is filled with excitement and irregular respiration. This is music where free wills and winds demand a lot of energy and total concentration. The paths of the tones are never really given. The moment and the impulse are the starting point of these musicians.'Safety nets' are not for hire." – Bill Olsson, Västerbottens Kuriren , 1998 "The quartet succeeded on several fronts. Its riproaring tenor madness, combining gusty harmonies, Albert Ayler-esque spatial explorations and trans-Atlantic blues, electrified the room." – Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Sun-Times, 1999 "(Vandermark) has developed an especially close partnership with Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. The two men have a lot in common. Both are in their middle 30's, and each brings a formidable combination of youthful vigor and mature technical accomplishment to his intstrumental arsenal. And both players bring a deeply researched historical perspective and wide ranging influences, including 1950's cool jazz, European free improvisation and rock and roll, to their dynamic music." – Bill Meyer, Chicago Tribune, SEP 1999 "ATOMIC bomb. Ken and Mats blast off. Free jazz of the kind made by saxophonists Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson is most often compared to hurricanes and volcanoes. But it's much closer to atomic fission or the forces of quantum physics, in which the tiniest elements unleash unimaginable energy. This was a set where the sheer force of the music convinced you that you were hearing new voices with something important to say." – Ed Hazell, The Boston Phoenix, JAN 1998 "Following Janson's brilliant "I'll-be-right-with-you - I'm-trying-out-some-different-tunings-right-now" opener, the first cut drives relentlessy forward, with both reedmen lurning in high-powered solos and a furious duet. Nordeson is a energetic, exciting and accurate drummer, the unison head is gripping and the solos are fiery: it's almost immediately that listeners to Hidden in the Stomach are in for a breathtaking ride." – Walter Horn, Cadence, SEP 1998 |
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| Barrage Double Trio |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams, Kent Kessler, Nate McBride, Hamid Drake, Curt Newton |
| Releases (click to view) Utility Hitter |
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| DK3 |
| Band Members Duane Denison, James Kimball, Ken Vandermark |
| Releases (click to view) Neutrons |
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| McPhee/Vandermark/Kessler |
| Band Members Joe McPhee - reeds & brass Ken Vandermark - reeds Kent Kessler - bass |
| Releases (click to view) A Meeting In Chicago |
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| Spaceways Inc |
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| Band Members Nate McBride - Acoustic & Electric Basses Hamid Drake - drum kit Ken Vandermark - Reeds |
| Releases (click to view) 13 Cosmic Standards Version Soul Radiale |
| SPACEWAYS INC. was first brought together in the Spring of 1999 to help celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the Empty Bottle Jazz Series in Chicago. Hamid Drake (drums), and Ken Vandermark (reeds) have been working together regularly since the Summer of 1994, particularly in the critically acclaimed improvisation unit, the DKV TRIO. Nate McBride (basses) and Vandermark have also had a long term relationship in music, involving projects held in Boston since the early 90s, the BARRAGE DOUBLE TRIO in 1994, and most recently, the trio TRIPLEPLAY (with Curt Newton on drums). But it has been in SPACEWAYS INC. that the unique axis of Drake, McBride and Vandermark has been able to really develop. The initial version of the project focused on the work of George Clinton's FUNKADELIC and Sun Ra's various ensembles. SPACEWAYS took those ideas about Funk and Free Jazz and brought them someplace new on the album 13 Cosmic Standards (Atavistic, 2000). During a tour of Austria in the Spring of 2001, the trio talked about further developing the stylistic polarities suggested by the pieces of Clinton and Ra by applying them to compositions of their own. SPACEWAYS followed though on this idea with the work recorded in August 2001 for the cd, Version Soul (Atavistic, 2002). This document expands on the hard funk/free jazz intersection of the first record and includes elements of reggae, "cool school" jazz, Southern back beats, and "new music" abstractions. With each successive performance, SPACEWAYS INC. sinks deeper into the territory they found between what some listeners initially thought were disparate musics. This trio pulls them together through heavy communication and their ability to find the groove that connects creative music, no matter how incongruous a sense of abstraction or ass swinging the pulse may initially seem. |
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| Steelwool Trio |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler, Curt Newton |
| Releases (click to view) International Front |
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| Category: Quartets - Inactive |
| FJF (Free Jazz Four) |
| Band Members Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler, Steve Hunt |
| Releases (click to view) Blow Horn |
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| Joe Harriott Project |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Kent Kessler, Tim Mulvenna |
| Releases (click to view) Straight Lines |
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| Steam |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Jim Baker, Kent Kessler, Tim Mulvenna |
| Releases (click to view) Real Time |
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| The Crown Royals |
| Band Members Pete Nathan, Ken Vandermark, Mark Blade, Jeff BBQ |
| Releases (click to view) Funky-Do! All Night Burner |
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| The Waste Kings |
| Band Members Pete Nathan, Ken Vandermark, Mark Blade, Brendan Burke |
| Releases (click to view) “Garden of My Mind”/“Ride the Sun” “Millionth Eye”/“Strange Movies” |
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| Vandermark Quartet |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark, Daniel Scanlan, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang |
| Releases (click to view) Solid Action “Here Comes Mr. Weasel”/“Leadfoot” “Eightball”/“Steel Head Beauty” Big Head Eddie |
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| Category: Quintets - Inactive |
| NRG Ensemble |
| Band Members Mars Williams, Ken Vandermark, Brian Sandstrom, Kent Kessler, Steve Hunt |
| Releases (click to view) Bejazzo Gets a Facelift This Is My House Calling All Mothers |
| This group was founded and led (with varying lineups over the years) by Hal Russell. Vandermark was a member for most of 1990, replacing Mars Williams during an extended absence. After Russell died in 1992, the group continued under the leadership of Williams; Vandermark rejoined and was a member until mid-1998. The group played some concerts afterwards without him in 1998 and 1999. (text: Seth Tisue) |
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| Category: Larger Ensembles |
| Atomic School Days |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Kjell Nordeson - vibes Jeb Bishop - trombone Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten - bass Paal Nilssen-Love - drums Magnus Broo - trumpet Fredrik Ljungkvist - saxophones Håvard Wiik - piano |
| Releases (click to view) Nuclear Assembly Hall Distil |
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| Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet |
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| Band Members •Current Peter Brötzmann/Germany: reeds Johannes Bauer/Germany: trombone Jeb Bishop/USA: trombone Mats Gustafsson/Sweden: saxophones Per-Âke Holmlander/Sweden: tuba Kent Kessler/USA: bass Fred Lonberg-Holm/USA: cello Joe McPhee/USA: trumpet Paal Nilssen-Love/Norway: drums Ken Vandermark/USA: reeds Michael Zerang/USA: drums •Past Magnus Broo/Sweden: trumpet Roy Campbell/USA: trumpet Hamid Drake/USA: drums Toshinori Kondo/Japan: trumpet/electronics William Parker/USA: bass Mike Pearson/UK: voice Mars Williams/USA: saxophones |
| Releases (click to view) SIGNS IMAGES Short Visit to Nowhere Broken English Stone/Water The Chicago Octet/Tentet Be Music, Night American Landscapes 1 American Landscapes 2 Chicago Tentet at Molde 2007 |
| The Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet Peter Brötzmann has led a number of internationally renowned, large group improvising ensembles since the late 1960s. The latest, called the "Chicago Tentet," is one of his best. First organized in that city during January of 1997, the band has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe in the last decade, and has released nine albums containing a huge variety of music. In 2007, the ensemble celebrates its ten years of work together with a tour in Europe during June, a festival performance in Molde, Norway, in July and an engagement (their only North American appearance) in Chicago, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Chicago Tentet is a veritable "Who's Who" of contemporary improvised music and includes many of the most significant members from that scene's cutting edge. Since its inception, the group has had a rotating line-up and past versions of the band have included William Parker (bass), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet/electronics), Roy Campbell (trumpet), and Mike Pearson (a renowned actor, who participated in a special project integrating Brötzmann's music and the texts of Kenneth Patchen for the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2004). All of the musicians connected to the ensemble, past and present, have contributed their distinctive voices to the group, making each concert appearance of the Tentet a truly exceptional experience. For the concert schedule in 2007, the group's size will be expanded to include both Johannes Bauer and Jeb Bishop on trombone. Though the Tentet is clearly directed by Brötzmann and guided by his aesthetics, since the band’s outset he has been committed to utilizing the ideas of everyone involved. Initially, this meant allowing the other musicians to contribute their compositions; since 2005, however, the ensemble has been a total improvisation unit, foregoing scores in order to explore their music with complete spontaneity. This shift in approach has allowed the group to explore an outstanding range of material, and the Tentet employs almost every organizational strategy available to an improvising ensemble while developing their music for each concert. The scope of conception, plus the diversity in each individual's approach to playing, has helped the band to cultivate an extremely multifaceted performance style. As the Tentet improvises from moment to moment, it can explore musical intensities that move from spare introspection to raging walls of sound, using open-ended rhythms or those of a hard-hitting groove. Since the late 1990's, the main work of the band has been done in concerts on the road. Though the economics of sustaining a large ensemble are a struggle, the Chicago Tentet has continued to find innovative ways to keep performing their music for audiences around the world. Through this ongoing effort they've been able to advance a sound and depth of communication impossible to find in any other contemporary music group, no matter what size or style. Discography (all available on Okka Disk) The Chicago Octet/Tentet (1998) Stone/Water (2000) Broken English (2002) Short Visit to Nowhere (2002) Signs (2004) Images (2004) Be Music, Night (2005) American Landscapes 1 (2007) American Landscapes 2 (2007) Tours/Festivals •1999 Empty Bottle Festival/ Victoriaville Festival/Berlin Jazz Festival •2000 North American Tour/Vancouver Jazz Festival/Banlieues Bleues Festival •2001 Mulhouse Free Music Festival/ Saalfelden Jazz Festival •2002 North American Tour •2003 European Tour/Northsea Jazz Festival/Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen/ Tapere Jazz Happening •2004 Tour of Southeast U.S./ACME Festival/Chicago Humanities Festival/Le Mans Europa Jazz Festival •2005 North American Tour/Victoriaville Festival/Oslo Jazz Festival/Antwerrp Free Music Festival •2006 European Tour/Zürich Taktlos Festival/Bergen Natt Jazz Festival/ Stirling Le Weekend Festival •2007 European Tour/Molde Jazz Festival/10th Anniversary Celebration Chicago MCA Photo by Ziga Koritnik |
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| Resonance Ensemble |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark (USA) tenor & baritone saxes, clarinet Magnus Broo (Sweden) trumpet Tim Daisy (USA) drums Per-Âke Holmlander (Sweden) tuba Dave Rempis (USA) tenor & alto saxes Steve Swell (USA) trombone Mark Tokar (Ukraine) bass Mikołaj Trzaska (Poland) alto sax, bass clarinet Yuriy Yaremchuk (Ukraine) tenor & soprano saxes, bass clarinet Michael Zerang (USA) drums, percussion |
| Releases (click to view) Resonance Resonance Ensemble ltd. edition box set |
| The Resonance Ensemble, an international New Jazz group, began in 2007 as a co-presentation by Ken Vandermark and Marek Winiarski. After performing in Poland over the course of several years with a large number of groups (the Vandermark 5, duo with Paal Nilssen-Love, Sonore, Free Fall, Powerhouse Sound, the Frame Quartet and many more), Vandermark decided that is was time to organize a band that included musicians from that part of the world. After consulting with Winiarski (who runs Not Two records and is an organizer of Jazz concerts in Krakow), the two combined their resources and knowledge in order to put together a large unit of improvisers from the contemporary scene. In addition to Vandermark [reeds], the project included Magnus Broo [trumpet] and Per-Ake Holmlander [tuba] from Stockholm; Tim Daisy [drums], Dave Rempis [saxophones], and Michael Zerang [percussion] from Chicago; Steve Swell [trombone] from New York; Mark Tokar [bass] and Yuri Yarumchuk [reeds] from Lviv; and Mikolaj Trzaska [reeds] from Gdansk. In November of that year, Vandermark arrived in Krakow to complete four new compositions for this ten piece orchestra, all of them loosely based on his impressions of time spent in Poland as a musician and traveler. After a week that work was done and the other artists arrived. For five days the group rehearsed at the Alchemia club during the day, then they played in small Improvised Music configurations at night. On November 17, the Resonance Ensemble traveled overnight by bus to perform for the first time, in Lviv, Ukraine. (This concert, which took place for an audience of over 800 people, was recorded, the second set of which was released as an album by Not Two in the fall of 2008.) The next morning the band returned to Krakow for a concert at the Manghha Museum, playing to another sold out crowd. All of the performances in Krakow, by the small units and the full ensemble, were released in October of 2009 by Not Two as a 10cd box set; in time for the band's first tour of Europe. The Resonance Ensemble's music has advanced Vandermark's composing methods for large groups, work that started with the early music of Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet and also the Territory Bands. Much of this new material combines his interest in “suite forms” (perhaps most influenced by Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus) and a collaging approach to improvising structures that he began with the Territory Band. The project provided Vandermark with the first opportunity in his career to do nothing but compose for a week. In September of 2009, he began a new approach to writing for the project, a series of “modular pieces,” which can be reassembled for each performance, giving added spontaneity to both the improvising and the compositional structure. The results of these efforts, coupled with the creative input of the musicians and the organizational skills of Winiarski and the staff at Alchemia, has given the current music scene a powerful band that is helping to define a new era for Jazz and Improvised Music. |
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| Territory Band |
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| Band Members Bishop: trombone Doerner: trumpet Marhaug: electronics Lytton: percussion Nilssen-Love: percussion Baker: piano Ljungkvist: saxophone/clarinet Rempis: saxophones Vandermark: saxophone/clarinet Kessler: bass Lonberg-Holm: cello |
| Releases (click to view) Company Switch Transatlantic Bridge Map Theory Atlas New Horse for the White House Collide |
| The TERRITORY BAND is an international collection of musicians that was first organized by Ken Vandermark in the start of 2000 as a large ensemble investigation of composition and improvisation. Since their first meeting as a nonet the group has expanded to twelve members and currently includes on brass: Johannes Bauer (trombone), Axel Doerner (trumpets), Per-Ake Holmlander (tuba); on reeds: Fredrik Ljungkvist, Dave Rempis, Ken Vandermark; on strings: Kent Kessler (bass), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello); on percussion: Paul Lytton (drums), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), Jim Baker (piano); and on electronics, Lasse Marhaug. The group has released three albums on Okka Disk since its inception, Transatlantic Bridge (2001), Atlas (2002), and Map Theory (2004), with a fourth release, recorded in Chicago during September 2004, timed to coincide with their performance of world premier compositions at Donaueshingen in October. Over the course of the five years of work with the group, Vandermark has tried to develop an electro-acoustic aesthetic that would be able to incorporate a broad range of ideas about composition and improvisation. Sources of inspiration have been derived from the history of improvised music established in the United States and Western Europe, and from strategies traceable to late 20th century composition. In addition, the architecture of the music has been directly affected by other areas of creative action- painting, film, photography, poetry, and dance. Vandermark has tried to design compositional frameworks that liberate and motivate the improvisers in the TERRITORY BAND rather than confine them through a rigid set of directives and overly complex material. It is also important to note that the predetermined components have been organized with this specific set of musicians in mind, no other group of individuals could perform th with anywhere near the same results. By freeing the improvisers to realize the music implied by the compositions, Vandermark has created an ensemble that is a combination of twelve distinct aesthetics set in motion by a common goal. |
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| Category: Duos - Inactive |
| Cinghiale |
| Band Members Ken Vandermark - reeds Mars Williams - reeds |
| Releases (click to view) Hoofbeats of the Snorting Swine |
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| Category: Other |
| 'Musician' DVD |
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| Band Members Common sense says you can't make a living in America playing avant-garde improvisational jazz. But Ken Vandermark does it anyway. Among musicians, Vandermark's work ethic is almost mythic. The Chicago reed player has released over 100 albums with nearly 40 ensembles, spends over eight months per year on the road, and lives every other waking moment composing, arranging, performing — and trying to discipline his two hyperactive canines. Though Vandermark was the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur genius grant, he still spends most of his life in smoky clubs and low-budget recording studios, hoping people will plunk down hard-earned cash to hear his wholly non-commercial music. Following the artful cinéma vérité style of the internationally acclaimed Sheriff, Musician forgoes all interviews and voice-overs. It is a fly-on-the-wall time capsule that expertly captures every subtle sound and texture of this most American of art forms. For further information, please visit Daniel Kraus' website: Work Series |
| Releases (click to view) 'Musician' DVD |
| CREDITS: MUSICIAN Director/Editor Daniel Kraus Producers Jason Davis Daniel Kraus Camera/Sound Daniel Kraus Additional Crew Joe Chellman Amanda Kraus Ryan Bartelmay BANDS Atomic School Days Jeb Bishop Magnus Broo Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Fredrik Ljungkvist Paal Nilssen-Love Kjell Nordeson Ken Vandermark Havard Wiik Duo Paal Nilssen-Love Ken Vandermark FME Nate McBride Paal Nilssen-Love Ken Vandermark Powerhouse Sound 1.0 Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Lasse Marhaug Nate McBride Paal Nilssen-Love Ken Vandermark Powerhouse Sound 2.0 John Herndon Nate McBride Jeff Parker Ken Vandermark Cinc Paul Lytton Ken Vandermark Philipp Wachsmann SONGS Mirror Values performed by Atomic School Days Vandermark/Twenty First Mobile Music (ASCAP) Improvisation performed by Paal Nilssen-Love & Ken Vandermark Nilssen-Love (TONO/N(C)B), Vandermark/Twenty First Mobile Music (ASCAP) Exit the Republic, On a Wire, False Rabbit, Slip performed by FME Vandermark/Twenty First Mobile Music (ASCAP) Shocklee, Acid Scratch performed by Powerhouse Sound Vandermark/Twenty First Mobile Music (ASCAP) Improvisations 1-4 performed by Cinc Lytton (GEMA)/Inchmery Music (MCPS), Wachsmann (PRS/MCPS), & Vandermark/Twenty First Mobile Music (ASCAP) Brullt performed by Ken Vandermark Vandermark/Twenty First Mobile Music (ASCAP) THANKS Jeff Alpert Shannin Cartwright Elizabeth Donius Keith Fenimore Craig Harris Juan-Carlos Hernandez Arthur Ircink Jonas Jacobs Kartemquin Films Mark Lazarski Ellen Major Matt McDermott Michael Orlove Craig Ouellette Grant Rosenberg Amos Scattergood Richard Sharp Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival Onur Tukel Bob Weston The Green Mill Casa del Popolo La Sala Rossa Semaphore Schubas Hallwalls Arts Center The Red Guitar Livingroom Experimental Sound Studio The Hideout Elastic Arts WNUR Special thanks to Ken Vandermark for his cooperation with this project This was produced by Sheriff Movie LLC who is solely responsible for its content © 2007, Sheriff Movie LLC, All Rights Reserved |
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