Jazz Articles about Vandermark 5

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The Vandermark 5: A Discontinuous Line

by John Kelman
October 27, 2006

Woodwind multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark has seen a number of personnel changes in his decade-old flagship group, the Vandermark 5. But when charter member Jeb Bishop left last year, Vandermark made the decision not to replace him with another trombonist. The Color of Memory (Atavistic, 2005) stands, as a result, as a high point and watershed mark of the “old Vandermark 5. A Discontinuous Line marks a significant shift with the recruitment of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, himself no stranger to the ...

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The Vandermark 5: A Discontinuous Line

by Troy Collins
October 3, 2006

A Discontinuous Line is the first studio recording of the new incarnation of the Vandermark 5, Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark's most enduring and versatile ensemble. The Vandermark 5 has been an acoustic quintet since trombonist/guitarist Jeb Bishop dropped the electric instrument from his arsenal in 2001, taking his final leave last year. With the arrival of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, the group once again has the capacity to deliver the electronic maelstroms that made them famous outside of the jazz world ...

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The Vandermark 5: Free Jazz Classics Vol. 3 & 4

by Troy Collins
May 25, 2006

In his liner notes, multi-instrumentalist and composer Ken Vandermark proclaims that his time covering jazz standard repertoire has passed: “The fourth volume of Free Jazz Classics will likely be the last. Though I have learned a great deal by rearranging some of my favorite composers' work ... it's time to leave that process behind and focus more completely on my own ideas." Perhaps that's a bit modest on his part (Vandermark has long been a prolific writer), but this double ...

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The Vandermark 5: The Color of Memory

by Dan McClenaghan
November 22, 2005

"That Was Now," the opener on the two-disc set The Color of Memory, jumps out of the speakers, in a kick ass and take names later mode; and from the perspective of an ear that had never heard this group before--based on this introduction--it struck me as a pared-down Dixieland band pumped up on some serious steroids and a whole bunch of caffeine.The Vandermark 5 is one of reedman Ken Vandermark's many artistic outlets, featuring Vandermark on reeds ...

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The Vandermark 5: Alchemia

by A. Henkin
September 23, 2005

People always asked why Grateful Dead fans used to tour with the band; the answer was that they never played the same show twice. This box-set recording of the Vandermark 5's five-night stand at the Alchemia Club in Krakow, Poland last March does not quite live up to that high standard, but it does offer a rare glimpse at a working band, well, working.Recorded by the Polish label Not Two Records, Alchemia is a sprawling, expansive twelve-CD set ...

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The Vandermark 5: The Color of Memory

by John Kelman
September 12, 2005

Despite many attempts to compartmentalize it, jazz--like most things--isn't any one thing. Instead, it's a broader continuum of artists exploring different areas. Only a relative few actually manage to not only travel along the greater length of that continuum, but actually push its boundaries. Artists who do this are often relegated to relative obscurity--often only appreciated later in life or, worse, after death.

Now in his early forties, reed multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark isn't exactly a household name to those who ...

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Vandermark 5: Alchemia

by Michael McCaw
August 25, 2005

Vandermark 5 Alchemia Not Two Records 2005When Ken Vandermark was awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant in 1999, a lot of eyebrows and questions were raised. Past jazz oriented recipients had included such luminaries as Ornette Coleman, Steve Lacy, Cecil Taylor, and Anthony Braxton; Vandermark's name carried little recognition outside of select circles at that time. But the MacArthur Fellows Program was designed to award those “who show exceptional merit and promise of ...