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Jazz Articles about Ken Vandermark
The Frame Quartet: 35mm
by Troy Collins
Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Ken Vandermark is widely known for paying homage to artists of various disciplines, regularly including dedications in his song titles to those who have inspired him. On 35mm, the studio debut of his newest ensemble, The Frame Quartet, Vandermark reveals his longstanding debt to cinema, not only in name, but in approach. Filmmaking is an intensely collaborative medium, and The Frame Quartet embraces this concept implicitly; Vandermark is the sole writer, yet each ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark: Collected Fiction (Improvised Bass & Reed Duos) & Fire Room: Broken Music
by Marc Medwin
Ken VandermarkCollected Fiction (Improvised Bass & Reed Duos)Okkadisk2008 Fire RoomBroken MusicAtavistic2008 Saxophonist Ken Vandermark has made a career of placing himself in diverse company, whether as a leader or as part of a shared effort. These two releases continue the trend, finding him in partnership with collaborators old and new. However, he brings new ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark: The Passion and Ascension of a Brilliant Mind
by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
This interview was originally published in 2006.
In a world that has difficulty and attitude toward unfamiliar and creative thought, Ken Vandermark is a visionary exploring possibilities with improvisational and compositional forms.A recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant, he has used the funding to support his interest in bringing together some of today's most innovative and forward-thinking musicians and composers in the global arts community. Embracing music and life without compromise, Vandermark is a bold and brilliant ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark Vinyl Blowout!
by Robert Iannapollo
Ken Vandermark Reonance Ensemble Resonance Not Two 2009 Vandermark 5 Four Sides To The Story Not Two 2009 Ken Vandermark has had a productive relationship with the Polish label Not Two, which put out the 12-disc boxed set of the complete Vandermark 5 at the Alchemia club in Krakow from 2004. The most recent ...
Continue ReadingVandermark / Kessler / McBride / Joode / Flaten: Collected Fiction
by Mark Corroto
The beauty and the challenge of undertaking a project like Collected Fiction, a collection of bass and reed improvised duos, is to make an engaging and thoughtful experience for both players and listeners. These 22-tracks do just that with a polymorphic approach that renews itself with each track.The organizer here is Chicagoan Ken Vandermark, playing with three very familiar bassists and one somewhat new acquaintant. Vandermark's connection with Kent Kessler goes way back to their work with Hal ...
Continue ReadingAb Baars Trio / Ken Vandermark: Goofy June Bug
by Jeff Stockton
Ab Baars is a major figure in the Dutch jazz scene, having played with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink in their Instant Composers Pool for more than 25 years. Ken Vandermark has been the driving organizational force behind the fertile jazz community of Chicago for the better part of the last two decades, leading any number of bands and bringing together improvisers in the City of Wind with like-minded players throughout Europe and Scandinavia. So in spite ...
Continue ReadingVandermark 5: Beat Reader
by AAJ Italy Staff
La notizia, vale la pena sottolinearlo fin dalla prima riga, è che i Vandermark 5 sembrano aver finalmente e definitivamente elaborato il “lutto” per la perdita di Jeb Bishop. Defezione imprevista e piuttosto problematica, anche perchè l’uscita dal gruppo nel 2005 del trombonista-chitarrista, rimpiazzato dal violoncellista Fred Lonberg-Holm, ha comportato un cambio di formazione che, a differenza delle partenze di Tim Mulvenna e Mars Williams, sostituiti dagli omologhi Tim Daisy e Dave Rempis, ha implicato un radicale riassetto del quintetto. ...
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