Ken Vandermark

For the past 20 years, Ken Vandermark has been exploring and working to expand the possibilities of improvised and composed music in North America and Europe.

Since moving to Chicago from Boston in 1989, he's performed and recorded in a variety of contexts, and with many internationally renowned musicians. Past groups of significance include the NRG Ensemble, the DKV Trio, AALY, FME, the Vandermark Quartet, Spaceways Inc., School Days, Cinghiale, Witches & Devils, Steam, and Caffeine. Currently, the majority of his work as a composer and improviser has been directed toward the Vandermark 5, Powerhouse Sound, the Frame Quartet, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Sonore, and separate duos with the percussionists Tim Daisy and Paal Nilssen-Love, the Territory Band, CINC, and Free Fall. Upcoming projects include iTi (with Johannes Bauer, Thomas Lehn, Paal Nilssen-Love), Lean Left (with Terrie Ex, Andy Moor, Paal Nilssen Love), a collaboration with the group ZU, and the Resonance Ensemble (an international group featuring ten musicians from Poland, Sweden, the Ukraine, and the United States).

In addition to creating music, Ken has made many significant and highly respected contributions to both the local and international jazz/improvised music scenes through organizing concerts in Chicago and sponsoring North American tours with various ensembles. In 1996, he and writer John Corbett began organizing the Empty Bottle "Wednesday Night Jazz Series," concerts that brought musicians from Chicago, North America, and Europe to audiences on a weekly basis for nearly a decade. Starting in April 2006, Ken has continued this work by co-directing the "Immediate Sound Series" with Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout. Since the fall of 2005 he has also been a member of Umbrella Music, a musician based group of organizers collaborating in Chicago. His work as a presenter led to the invitation to act as creative director for the ACME Festival, a four-day event held in Athens, Georgia, during April, 2004, which featured concerts and workshops involving 21 musicians from Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United States.

Awards

Was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 1999.
One of the "Chicagoans of the Year in the Arts, 1994" (Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1995) for 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, Ken was named one of the "Musicians Of The Year" by All About Jazz, New York.

Svetlost with Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love at Jazzbina Pula

by Petra Cvelbar
May 18, 2025

A collection of photos from the Svetlost with Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love concert at at Jazzbina Pula in Pula, Croatia on April 21, 2025 featuring Svetlost Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love. ...

Album Review

Tim Daisy and Ken Vandermark: Fourth Atlas

Read "Fourth Atlas" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
May 5, 2025

True to its title, Fourth Atlas is the fourth album by the Chicago twosome of reedman Ken Vandermark and drummer Tim Daisy. Daisy was a member of the esteemed Vandermark 5 from 2002 to its demise in 2010, and the association has only deepened since. More than shared history, they enjoy a a shared aesthetic and profound appreciation for form. As a result this set of eight cuts, while credited to both and presumably spontaneously realized, could easily be mistaken ...

Live Review

Svetlost, Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love at MKC, Skopje

by Nenad Georgievski
April 25, 2025

Svetlost, Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love MKC, Skopje Skopje, Macedonia April 16th, 2025 There was no prelude, no soft landing. The first notes of “Puma in the Corner" leapt into the air like a wild animal, chaotic and alert. A shriek above our heads--someone channeling emotion so openly it felt like a roaring animal. The energy crackled as the musicians locked in, and then burst apart again. Svetlost, the Skopje-based free jazz trio, opened this ...

Album Review

Edition Redux: Broadcast Transformer

Read "Broadcast Transformer" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 15, 2025

Ken Vandermark has long made it a priority to dedicate nearly all of his compositions to other artists. From painters and photographers to writers, poets and fellow musicians, his influences span a wide artistic spectrum. Film, in particular, has been a significant source of inspiration for this long-time Chicago resident. While Vandermark has composed two commissioned soundtracks--Strade D'Acqua / Roads Of Water (Multikulti Project, 2010) and Parallax Sounds (Just Temptation Recordings, 2014)--his approach to music consistently embodies a cinematic scope. ...

In Pictures

Music Unlimited 38

by Luciano Rossetti
December 16, 2024

A collection of photos from the Music Unlimited 38 in Wels with artistic director Ken Vandermark, from November 8, 2024 to November 10, 2024 featuring Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, Han Bennink, Paul Lytton, Nate Wooley, The Ex, Jaribu Shahid, Mats Gustafsson, Mette Rasmussen, Damon Locks, Paal Nilssen-Love, Jaap Blonk, Joe McPhee and many more. ...

Live Review

Ken Vandermark’s Edition Redux at BOP STOP at The Music Settlement

by John Chacona
March 10, 2024

Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux BOP STOP at The Music Settlement Cleveland, OH February 27, 2024 Every jazz concert brings an experience that you've never had before and likely weren't expecting. In the case of the Cleveland concert by protean saxophonist Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux, the source was a new Apple Watch that helpfully issued a dangerous sound level warning when the volume inside BOP STOP hit 97 decibels. The concert was the band's ...

In Pictures

Festival Music Unlimited 37

by Luciano Rossetti
December 30, 2023

A collection of photos from the Festival Music Unlimited 37 in Wels from November 10 to 12, 2023 under the artistic direction of Wolfang Hermann--featuring Ken Vandermark, Ava Mendoza, Andy Moor, Terrie Ex, Dave Rempis, Mats Gustafsson, Dieb13, Susana Santos Silva, Fred Frith, Christof Kurzmann and many others along with a photo exhibition by Uli Templin. ...

Birthday