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Jazz Articles about Ken Vandermark
The Thing with Ken Vandermark and Two Bands & A Legend: Collaborative Furies

by Eyal Hareuveni
Swedish/Norwegian power trio The Thing--featuring Mats Gusatfsson on saxophones and the colossal rhythm section of Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums--like to enlist additional players who will bring further energy to their already dense dynamics. American saxophone hero Joe McPhee, or the Legend" as the group refer to him, has been an honorary member since he played on their second release, She Knows (Crazy Wisdom, 2002). Over the years, the band also joined forces with Italian ...
Continue ReadingTerritory Band: Collide

by Mark Corroto
Collide is Ken Vandermark's sixth release for his transatlantic small big band (or is it a large small group?) of American jazz meets European improvisers. Unlike the prior sessions, this disc is comprised of a single composition, divided into five parts.
The Territory Band has, at its core, players who execute Vandermark's writing with a satisfying proportion of improvised and ensemble playing that has as its contemporaries bands like the Brötzmann Tentet, the ICP Orchestra, and ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark: Rebus, Foreground Music and Journal

by Andrey Henkin
Joe Morris/Ken Vandermark/Luther Gray Rebus Clean Feed 2007 Ken Vandermark/Pandelis Karayorgis Foreground Music Okkadisk 2007 Bridge 61 Journal Atavistic 2006
In the Daniel Kraus documentary on Ken Vandermark, the saxophonist is shown writing music, organizing tours, traveling to and playing gigs, the typical ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark - Magnus Broo - Adam Lane - Paal Nilssen-Love: 4 Corners

by AAJ Italy Staff
La collaborazione tra Ken Vandermark e il contrabbassista Adam Lane - qui catturata dal vivo a Coimbra, Portogallo - si iscrive di diritto tra le più vivaci esplorazioni di quel terreno di confine tra il jazz più libero e la tensione ritmica di matrice punk-rock. Zone in cui band come i The Thing o anche i nostri Zu [con le dovute differenze] si muovono da consumati predoni, ma che nel caso di questo quartetto, sviluppa ulteriori strategie. Già il fatto ...
Continue ReadingKen Vandermark: A Discontinuous Line, Free Jazz Classics Vol. 3&4, Ideas, Montage

by Jeff Stockton
Vandermark 5 A Discontinuous Line Atavistic 2006 Vandermark 5 Free Jazz Classics, Vol. 3&4 Atavistic 2006 Ken Vandermark Ideas Not Two 2006 FME Montage Okka 2006
Ken Vandermark remains wildly prolific, not only ...
Continue ReadingThe Vandermark 5: A Discontinuous Line

by Nic Jones
Ken Vandermark could never be accused of wasting time, and while this particular documentation of his music lacks the rarefied air of his work with the SIA trio from earlier in 2006, this programme comes from an aesthetically different place. Vandermark's artistry is far from mono-dimensional.
Also, the dynamics of the V5 are of a radically different order, and on Aperture (For Walker Evans)" Vandermark's squally sound on the baritone sax can get a little wearing, not least because the ...
Continue ReadingSound in Action Trio: Gate

by AAJ Italy Staff
Nuovo capitolo discografico [la registrazione però risale al 2003], tra le tante formazioni in cui Ken Vandermark distribuisce le proprie idee, per il trio Sound In Action, che già aveva colpito nel segno nel 1999 con il precedente Design in Time: la formula è quella - abbastanza inconsueta - della triangolazione fra sassofono [o clarinetto] e due batterie. Rispetto alla formazione del primo disco, c'è Tim Daisy al posto di Tim Mulvenna, mentre il secondo batterista è sempre l'ottimo Robert ...
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