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Jazz Articles about Ken Vandermark
Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville 2014
by Mike Chamberlain
Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada May 15-19, 2014 Victoriaville, Quebec is a town of some 40,000 two hours east of Montreal, a regional center known for the sober pursuits of dairy and wood production. For the past three decades (beginning in 1983), the town has also hosted one of the world's most renowned festivals of adventurous music, the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, or Victo, as it is popularly ...
Continue ReadingBergamo Jazz 2014
by Libero Farnè
Teatro Donizetti--Teatro Sociale--Auditorium--Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Bergamo 16-23.03.2014 La trentaseiesima edizione di Bergamo Jazz, che ha coinciso con il piovoso irrompere della primavera, presentava un cartellone sulla carta molto interessante, uno dei più stimolanti degli ultimi decenni, congegnando il giusto mix fra nomi di grosso richiamo e nomi nuovi della ricerca jazzistica statunitense. A posteriori il bilancio ha lasciato un po' l'amaro in bocca: alcuni gruppi non hanno del tutto convinto, risultando ...
Continue ReadingMade To Break: Provoke
by Glenn Astarita
Each of these three extended pieces is dedicated to great twentieth century innovators who specialize in distinct disciplines. Led by Chicago outside jazz luminary Ken Vandermark, the quartet derives inspiration from avant-garde composer John Cage, architect, author Buckminster Fuller and philosopher, media theorist Marshall McLuhan. And as expected, the compositions are not thin or one-dimensional by design, yet from a semi-structured and improvisational standpoint, offer much in the way of excitement and entertainment. Vandermark also imparts some of the funk ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark's TOPOLOGY Nonet w/Joe McPhee: Impressions Of Po Music
by Mark Corroto
Food scientists know that human taste buds favor three items, sweet, salty and fat. Although abundant today, our prehistoric ancestors scavenged for these scarce commodities. A musical arranger, like a great chef, can serve up delectable music by skillfully combining the three tastes.Our chef, the musical impresario Ken Vandermark, organized this nonet tribute to Joe McPhee and his influential music by inviting the great man to record with eight Chicago musicians. All would probably name McPhee as their ...
Continue ReadingMade To Break: Provoke
by Mark Corroto
The evolution of Ken Vandermark continues with his new quartet Made To Break, an electric/acoustic ensemble that bridges his musical strengths of composition, organization, and improvisation. Founded in 2011, the saxophonist drew together bassist Devin Hoff (The Resonance Ensemble), drummer Tim Daisy (Vandermark 5, The Frame Quartet, Sound In Action Trio, Bridge 61), and a new contributor, Christof Kurzmann (electronics).In the early 2000s, Vandermark's interest in non-jazz elements like funk and reggae developed with his Spaceways Inc. trio ...
Continue ReadingC.O.D.E. (Ken Vandermark, Max Nagl, Clayton Thomas, Wolfang Reisinger): Play the music of Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ornette (Coleman) ed Eric (Dolphy) si alternano regolarmente nelle otto tracce del disco fino a convivere nella sesta dove, del sassofonista di Forth Worth, viene interpretata “Something Sweet, Something Tender," e del clarinettista e altista losangelino l'altrettanto celebre “The Sphinx". Due mondi musicali così fortemente caratterizzati e difficilmente immaginabili lontani dai loro protagonisti, dalle coordinate non sempre affini, che sembrano compenetrare l'uno nell'altro con grande naturalezza, liberando sinergie espressive di assoluto interesse ed esaltando l'aspetto universale del loro messaggio musicale. ...
Continue ReadingLean Left: Live at Café Oto
by AAJ Italy Staff
Per chi non sapesse chi milita nei Lean Left [ma gli appassionati di avant-jazz lo sanno molto bene], il disco specifica già in copertina: “The Ex guitars meet Nilssen- Love/Vandermark Duo". Si incontrano/scontrano il collaudato duo sax/batteria composto da Ken Vandermark [al clarinetto oltre che al tenore] e il sempre più fenomenale Paal Nilssen-Love con i due chitarristi degli indomiti Ex, Terrie Hessels e Andy Moor. Stati Uniti, Norvegia, Inghilterra e Olanda, a conferma, se ancora fosse necessaria, della internazionalità ...
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