Ken Vandermark

[Gary]

This months update from the KV website , eith some VERY interesting release news

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: March

After a month of work at home without concerts, February was full of performances in Chicago. The primary work was with the Vandermark 5, Tuesdays at the Empty Bottle and a weekend at the Green Mill, the audiences were exceptional and listening. The quintet worked hard on developing arrangements I had organized for compositions by the great Roland Kirk (“From Bechet, Byas And Fats”, “Rip, Rig And Panic”, “No Tonic Press” from Rip, Rig and Panic; “The Black And Crazy Blues”, “The Inflated Tear”, “A Handful of Fives” from The Inflated Tear; “Meeting On Termini's Corner” from Domino; “Three For The Festival” from We Free Kings; “Silverlization”, “Blue Rol” from Now Please Don't You Cry, “Beautiful Edith”; and “Volunteered Slavery” from the album of the same name. The music was recorded live at the gigs in Chicago and the best versions will be released as the bonus disk for the next studio album by the VANDERMARK 5, Elements Of Style/Exercises In Surprise (Atavistic), which comes out in the beginning of June.

Also in February were a string of performances organized by Joe Morris on the East Coast: in Boston and New Haven with a quintet (Joe on bass, Joe McPhee on horns, Nate McBride on bass, Luther Gray on drums). Though it was the first time we had played together in this combination, the music was clear and strong. These gigs were followed by a quartet that played in NY at Tonic with Mark Dresser on bass, Gerry Hemingway on drums, and Joe on guitar. Like the quintet performances from the previous two days, all the music was completely improvised, and the second half of the concert took off into some rhythmically driving ensemble work. Getting a chance to work with Joe again and in these new contexts was fantastic, many discussions about music and film, my head was spinning with ideas and inspiration by the time I left Connecticut.

The month also contained shows by the free improvisation unit, CAFFEINE (Jim Baker on keyboards, Steve Hunt on drums); the large band, CRISIS ENSEMBLE (Jason Ajemian and Kent Kessler on bass, Tim Daisy and Frank Rosaly on drums, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Josh Berman on cornet, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Dave Rempis and Aram Shelton on reeds), which performed as part of the 2nd "Elastic Festival Of Improvised Music" organized by Dave Rempis; and the first concert by the DKV Trio (Hamid Drake on drums, Kent Kessler on bass) in more than a year and a half which took place in Milwaukee. This was the second concert in a new series of improvised music performances taking place in that city, coordinated with the help of Jon Mueller and Tom Crawford.

During February the next SOUND IN ACTION (Robert Barry and Tim Daisy on drums) album was mixed, it will be released by Atavistic sometime this summer. With all the concerts and rehearsals it was hard to see enough live music, but I was fortunate to catch standout concerts by DRAGONS 1976 (Aram Shelton on reeds, Tim Daisy on drums, Jason Ajemian on bass) on their cd release concert for the album On Cortez (on Locust Music) at the Hungry Brain, and a performance by the visiting drummer Paul Hession with Jeb Bishop and Fred Lonberg-Holm: one of the best concerts of free improvised music I've listened to in quite a while.

March breaks wide open with tours and cd releases. Hereís the tour schedule, all of which happens in Europe-

TRIPLEPLAY (Nate McBride on bass, Curt Newton on drums) has its first concert in years in Lisbon to celebrate the release of the new album, Gambit (on Clean Feed). Hereís the concert info:

Wednesday, March 3 in Lisbon, Portugal at the Teatro Maria Matos.

After that I travel to meet the VANDERMARK 5 in Belgium to start our European tour. Dates and locations are as follows:

-March 5 in Antwerp, Belgium at the Cultureel Centrum Luchtbal

-March 6 in Syke (Bremen), Germany at the Kreissparkasse

-March 7 in Leer, Germany at the Kulturspeciher

-March 8 in Eindhoven, Netherlands at the Cafe Wihelmina

-March 10 in Paris, France at the Banlieues Bleues Festival

-March 11 in Geneve, Switzerland at the Sud des Alpes

-March 12 in Padova, Italy at the Sala dei Giganti

-March 15-19 in Cracow, Poland at the Alchemia Club

-March 20 in Vienna, Austria at the Blue Tomato

-March 21 in Zell a.d. Braam, Austria at the Landesbildungszentrum

-March 22 in Jena, Germany at the Cafe Wagner

Really looking forward to returning to the clubs we've played before and playing for new audiences in new places, particularly the 5 night stand in Cracow. We'll be recording there for an upcoming live release on the Polish label, Not Two Records. At the end of the VANDERMARK 5 tour I return to Chicago to take care of final preparations for the ACME Festival in Athens, GA.Check out the website www.acmefestival.com for more specific details and information, but here is the confirmed lineup:

THURSDAY, APRIL 1

8pm Atomic

9:30pm Peter Brötzmann/Nasheet Waits Duo

11pm ad hoc group organized by Joe Morris

FRIDAY, APRIL 2

8pm Joe Morris Solo

9:30pm The Thing & Joe McPhee

11pm ad hoc group organized by Peter Brötzmann

12:30am Atomic/School Days

SATURDAY, APRIL 3

3pm Free Fall

4:30pm Triage

6pm Joe McPhee Solo

8pm Vandermark 5

9:30pm Joe Maneri Trio

11pm ad hoc group organized by Kent Kessler

12:30am Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet

SUNDAY, APRIL 4

3pm School Days

4:30pm Joe Maneri/Mat Maneri Duo

6pm Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet

In connection to the festival, there will be two brand new releases on Okka Disk: Signs and Images by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet; and the double cd, Nuclear Assembly Hall, by the ATOMIC/SCHOOL DAYS octet.

In addition to these and the TRIPLEPLAY album, Gambit, look for a double cd by the Paal Nilssen-Love/Ken Vandermark duo (on smalltownsupersound) and the ZU/SPACEWAYS collaboration, Radiale (on Atavistic); all to come out during the month of March. Hope to see you at the shows, enjoy the sounds!

-Ken Vandermark.

[A Lark Ascending]

The Atomic CD 'Happy Feet' is one of my favourites of the last few years. About time its follow up got a release beyond Norway!

Schooldays London Jazz Festival concert was broadcast by the Beeb a few weeks back and made me invest in the CD - great music.

As a consequence that "double cd, Nuclear Assembly Hall, by the ATOMIC/SCHOOL DAYS octet" is one of the releases I'm really looking forward to this spring.

[Gary]

This month's news

Just in case anybody else is interested

Right now the ACME festival starts. Tonight, presentations by myself and John Corbett concerning the idea behind the festival and an overview of Peter Brötzmann's visual and musical paths. There is no need to give a rundown of the concerts and panel discussions that are happening over the next days, all that information is posted on the site, but I'd like to mention that my hope is that this will be the first of a series of festivals here in Athens devoted to music in the broadest sense. The first version of ACME is devoted to representing some of the strongest voices in contemporary improvised music, I'd like to see this develop into a music festival that incorporates all strains of music, the best that's happening, whatever the genre. I believe that by presenting improvised music side by side with other great contemporary approaches: new composed music, rock, traditional music from around the world, etc. it will help pull improvised music into the public consciousness as a viable and vital form of music that is meant for all listeners. Imagine a day of music that included Derek Bailey, the Arditti String Quartet, The Ex, and a Noh performance? To my mind, THAT'S the direction I'd like to see the contemporary music festival move towards. All the people I know listen to several kinds of music, all the musicians I work with play several kinds of music- why should the genres be separated at a music festival? Let's present the music as it's heard and worked with!

After the festival the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet travels to New Orleans and Austin to play two more concerts. Paal Nilssen-Love has joined the band and the group will be working on new material during rehearsals in Athens, so this will be a new phase for the band. Paula Froehle will be ACME shooting documentary footage to add to the work started by Larisa Gray covering the first two U.S. tours by the band, in 2000 and 2002. The hope is to compile all of this material (concerts, interviews, rehearsals, etc.) for a release on an upcoming dvd. More as this project develops! When the Tentet work is completed, I head back to Chicago for the rest of the month: concerts with the Vandermark 5 and the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music (curated by John Corbett)- a lot left to do this month!

In March the new Tripleplay album, Gambit (on Clean Feed), was released. The group performed in Lisbon to celebrate and thanks to the work of Pedro Costa and the Trem Azul crew, the band had an incredible time working and seeing the city. The audience was fantastic, it's been a great, great stretch performing all over Europe in the last couple of years. The listeners are so prepared and open minded it's been unbelievably inspiring. This month the new Zu/Spaceways album, Radiale (on Atavistic) is released. Also Okka Disk comes out full force with 3 albums: two by the Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Signs and Images, and a double cd by the octet, Atomic/School Days: Nuclear Assembly Hall. All of these recordings are being released to coincide with the ACME Festival and arrive in Athens on Saturday the 3rd.

That's it for now, need to run to the Tentet rehearsal. Thanks for subscribing to this newsletter, will be in touch at the end of April, but check out the site- new music and articles and photos keep coming.

-Ken Vandermark.

[Gary]

If you dont like KV dont read KV threads !!!!!!!!!

[J.A.W.]

If you dont like KV dont read KV threads !!!!!!!!!

Why not? Is there some kind of rule against it?

I don't like KV's playing (and that's an understatement), but I'm still interested in the opinion of other posters.

By the way, there's still one KV CD left in my sale

Edited April 11, 2004 by J.A.W.

[Gary]

If you dont like KV dont read KV threads !!!!!!!!!

Why not? Is there some kind of rule against it?

Absolutely not - maybe I shouldnt have posted that , but I just posted some info for anybody that may be interested in Ken Vandermarks work & didnt expect such a negative/volatile response.

Apologies to the board's police & Clementine .

I'll shall cease any futher updates (I dont think anybody else was that bothered anyway).

[Guest Chaney]

Hey Gary,

I thank you for the update.

I must say though that generally speaking, all opinions are welcome as long as they're expressed in a civil manner.

Nothing wrong with buying Vandermark CDs along with the other worthies clem mentioned. That being said, we all have our musical priorities.

It's a geat big world out there.

[Jazzmoose]

get this one first:

and this one next:

Vandermark w/ Hamid Drake and Nate McBride doing Sun Ra and Funkadelic covers. Great stuff!

And to those, don't forget to add this new one, just out last week:

While I've yet to warm to the first half of the disc (Zu and Ken), the last half (both groups together) kicks ass!

Must admit I don't have Version Soul yet; but it'll be in my next music order. It's been a long time since I got this excited about music; I'm become a Spaceways Incorporated junkie!!

[jlhoots]

More fuel for the fire.

I don't care for Joe Maneri, & less & less for Brotzmann (who I find very repetitive). That may just be me.

Fred Anderson, Von Freeman, Roscoe Mitchell, Tony Malaby (get the Pavone CD:Orange) - yep

Vandermark I still like.

To each his own.

[jlhoots]

Thanks Clem. Good points.

I do own & enjoy the Brotzmann Okka 3CD Octet / Tentet set.

It just feels to me that some of the solo & duo stuff reminds me of Borbetomagus that I could never sit through.

Joe Maneri probably deserves more time from me. Microtonal is a "concept" that probably doesn't reward casual listening.

[Nate Dorward]

True, KVDM's habitual dedication of pieces to his idols begins to look like opportunism, but why's it any different from or less admirable than Steve Lacy or Anthony Braxton's acts of homage? Simply because they're more important musicians?

[clifford_thornton]

No, because Lacy and Braxton didn't release 95% of their records named after some predecessor.

Joe Harriott is _all right_. Vandermark is _all right_. So I guess that one makes sense...

I've seen Vandermark blow hard, and it's good. But I've seen/heard a lot more of his shit fall flat, so that affects my opinion of him a little below the meridian.

[Nate Dorward]

Nonsense: virtually every Braxton & Lacy composition is a dedication. For instance, just grabbing Lacy's The Holy La: the title track is for Leonard Bernstein; "Inside My Head" is for Dick Francis; "Blue Jay" is for JF Jenny-Clark; "Flakes" is for Mark Rothko; "Cliches" is for Jo Maka; "Retreat" is for Bob Marley; "The Door" is for Josef Haydn. Or Vespers, which dedicates each track to everyone from Keith Haring to Stan Getz. You could come up with similar lists from most of Lacy's or Braxton's discs. Lacy even often includes little photographs of the dedicatees at the bottom of his scores.

[minew]

Can't help but feel that KV gets a few extra zaps b/c of the McArthur - which is a little ironic b/c, whether or not you think he deserved it, he turned almost all of it right back into musical projects like the Tentet.

I like Ken's playing and almost all of his projects, some more enthusiastically than others. I'm especially fond of the Tentet, DKV, and the V5. While his soloing may not be as innovative and far-ranging as that of some of his partners, he's adept at creating a wide range of textures and sound fields, which is part of what this music is all about. I'm impressed at his ability to "channel" Ayler on one tune and Giuffre on the next. His dedications, I think, are all about his openess about and enthusiasm for his many influences. BTW, I feel like his best horn might be his bari, with the tenor just behind.

I think there's a little intended irony in the whole "Free Jazz Classics" thing as if to say, "If we're canonizing jazz musicians, then I'd like to canonize Don Cherry, Roscoe Mitchell, et al." I certainly don't see anything wrong with using their "compositions" as departure points for totally new improvisations.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ken last week on his just-completed Tentet tour. He did a workshop on campus (with Nilssen-Love) for us to help faciltate university funding for the Tentet gig. He played and spoke intermittently, highlighting different approches to free jazz over the last 40 years. He talked a lot about his influences, as expected, ranging from Nelson Riddle to James Brown to Evan Parker. Seemed like a great guy. I helped him haul his and Paal's shit in and out of a beat-up van they were using on their Southern tour.

After seeing the Tentet, a project he's basically responsible for, that night, I certainly don't have any doubts that he's doing great things for this music

[Nate Dorward]

It's true that Lacy doesn't append the dedications to the titles of the pieces a la KVDM, but when he contributes liner notes he's usually at pains to spell out the dedications; & as I said if you look at the scores (often reproduced in the packaging) the dedications are written out & often little photos of the dedicatees are pasted to the score (e.g. the image of Beltrametti on the score of his setting of Raworth's "Out of a Sudden", published as the endpapers of Clean & Well Lit). Similarly with Braxton: the dedications are usually mentioned only in the liner notes (e.g. take a look at the liners to the Willisau set), though occasionally they're marked explicitly in the packaging (notably on For Alto).

Vandermark doesn't interest me as a musician but I don't begrudge him the McArthur, & yes by all reports he's a nice guy.

[Clunky]

I light of these comments highlighting KVM failings I've relistened to what I have by him (KVM5, School Days, Freefall).

I can see the R'n'B thing in his solos and granted his improvisations some times seem a little grounded, but the package as a whole is very attractive to listen to.

Live, he and his groups are rivetting and not just because he's surrounded by ace players. Attractive compositions (ok with relatively simple few pretensions beyond their dedications), fine pacing and boundless enthusiam.

I'm still buying KVM.

[Gary]

Heres the latest update

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: MAY 2004.

April’s nearly over, time for the work in May. This past month was intense with work and change, mostly centered around the ACME Festival in Athens. On the hard side of things were the shifts in the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet: Hamid Drake was gone and Mars Williams walked out. Thankfully Paal Nilssen-Love stepped into the difficult position of both “ replacing” Hamid and being new to the ensemble by playing his ass off. The two concerts at ACME were great despite the personnel changes, thanks partially to the chance to rehearse during the days before the concerts in Athens. By the time we got to Austin after playing an additional gig in New Orleans the band was truly BURNING. Discussions about where to go next (would the changes in the lineup indicate what would be the last chapter in the history of the band, or would they be further steps in its development?) confirmed the passionate commitment of the rest of the ensemble to follow course and keep moving forward. One offshoot of the trip to New Orleans and Austin after Athens was the realization that it was possible to move the Tentet and most of it’s equipment in 3 mini vans, a much more financially feasible way for the group to travel in North America. With this information and a newly defined sense of purpose the group is already in the preliminary phase of organizing an extended U.S. tour in the spring of 2005. More news as it develops.

The ACME Festival was extraordinary, EVERY musician who performed played at their highest level, EACH group was astonishing. It would be easy and understandable to write this off as hyperbole on my part since I was the creative director, but if you can ask around you’ll get this praise confirmed: all the musicians came to PLAY. I thank each of them for making the music a complete success, I couldn’t have asked for better work. The festival was a beautiful 4 days exhibiting the state of the art in improvised music. I have to express my sincere thanks to Julie Powell and all the people (especially Erik Hinds) who assisted her in the logistics of trying to make the festival run- it was an extreme amount of work. There is talk of setting up ACME-2 for next April, my hopes are high to do a follow up.

Looking at what comes next, it’s clear that the weeks until the end of July are going to be dynamite. May starts with the festival in Le Mans, France where the Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and the Vandermark 5 perform. Then the Tentet heads to Hasselt, Belgium for another concert. Both of these bands have already started work on the compositions for their next albums during performances this spring... Directly following these engagements, I fly with Paal Nilssen-Love to London to meet Nate McBride for a filming of FME at the BBC and a concert at Vortex. Then the band continues on a European tour that lasts to the 22nd: 11 concerts in 14 days. We’ll be performing material from the album, “Underground” (out on Okka Disk at the start of May), as well as completely new material written for this tour. Hope to see you out there while we’re on the road!

April brought a number of new releases: “Signs” and “Images” by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet (on Okka Disk); the double cd “Nuclear Assembly Hall” by Atomic/School Days (also on Okka Disk); and “Radiale” by Zu/Spaceways Inc. (on Atavistic). In May, as mentioned above, FME releases “ Underground” on Okka Disk. New music by new bands for a new year, keep your ears peeled...

MAY TOURING SCHEDULE

-Vandermark 5

5/06/04 Le Mans, France: Le Mans Jazz Festival

-Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet

5/07/04 Le Mans, France: Le Mans Jazz Festival

5/08/04 Hasselt, Belgium: Kunstencentrum Belgie

-FME

5/09/04 London, England: Vortex

5/11/04 Barcelona, Spain: Mercat De Las Flors

5/12/04 Barcelona, Spain: Mercat De Las Flors

5/14/04 Greiz, Germany: Griez Jazz Festival

5/15/04 Weikersheim, Germany: Club W 71

5/16/04 St. Johann, Austria: Alte Gerberei

5/17/04 Salzburg, Austria: Jazzit Music Club

5/19/04 Dachau, Germany: Cafe Teufelhart

5/20/04 Krems, Austria: Jazz in Krems

5/21/04 Wels, Austria: Alter Schlachthof

5/22/04 Cerkno, Slovenia: Gabrijel Jazz Festival

Let the Vandermark bashing commence

This posting is for Clementine

[rockefeller center]

Thanks for the update. Will try to attend one of the Austria shows.

[Gary]

Thanks for the update. Will try to attend one of the Austria shows.

Be sure to let us know how the show is .

[Guest Chaney]

     

Heres the latest update

     

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: MAY 2004.

Thanks Gary.

[Guest Chaney]

I blame Gary!

[gnhrtg]

It looks like I'll be seeing both the V5 and the Brotzmann Tentet this week. If I happen to talk to any of the guys, I'll ask them.

[minew]

Up... "Mars Williams walked out." Are ya'll just gonna let that lie there like patch of cat puke yr trying to ignore so someone else cleans it up? Doesn't affect my opinion on the flaws & merits of KV's music but c'mon, this is INTERESTING. First, that KV would be so candid in a letter like that and second... well, there are lotsa seconds, actually.

We're waiting,

Clem

Heard two different explanations for this when the Tentet came to New Orleans. First, the concert promoter/producer apologetically explained to me that MW had left the group in Athens due to a "personal emergency". (Through the college I work at I was a co-sponosor of the shows here so she may have felt an "excuse" was necessary.)

At the Tentet show, Brotzmann himself had no interest in explaining anything. At the beginning of the second set he simply said, and I quote:

"Some of you are wondering why we are 9 and not 10. Our friend Mars Williams left us in Athens for whatever reason....so you have to be satisfied with what you have."

Not really enlightening but a satisfactory (and classic PB) explanation nonetheless.

[Gary]

I blame Gary!

Hey - dont blame me - I only post info here to keep whoever started this thread happy . I've known all along that KV's shit!

[Gary]

I had a pleasant surprise this morning the new KV5 cd 'Elements of style' arrived on my doorstep - the original release date was 8 June.

Its a double CD with the bonus cd being Roland Kirk covers.