#Ken Vandermark

[musicollage]

Ken Vandermark + Kugel + Tokar – Escalator. 2017 : Not Two.

! enjoy the album ★ donate a coffee !

[iangmaia]

Edition Redux

Ken Vandermark, Erez Dessel, Lily Finnegan & Beth McDonald

Amsterdam – OCCII – 26.10.2023

[sinceileftyoublog]

Yakuza, Oxbow, & Sybris Live Show Review: 2/25, Thalia Hall, Chicago

Yakuza's Jerome Marshall & Bruce Lamont

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For two Chicago bands, Sunday night was all about reflection. First and foremost, local metal legends Yakuza were there to celebrate 25 years of existence. They first caught the eyes and ears of listeners with their independently released debut album Amount to Nothing before signing to a label for 2002's Way of the Dead, an album that truly introduced them as a hard rock band with elements of avant-garde and jazz. On Yakuza records, folks like Ken Vandermark and Fred Lonberg-Holm would rub elbows with members of Mastodon; founding member Bruce Lamont, the lead singer and saxophonist/clarinetist, was the tying thread between the musical worlds. Yakuza steadily released records for the next 10 years before taking a decade-long break, while Lamont would stay active, playing saxophone, participating in bands like Bloodiest and Corrections House, and tending bar at Empty Bottle. Finally, last year, Yakuza picked up where they left off with Sutra (Svart), a record that again dipped its toes into seemingly disparate genres--thrash, prog, free jazz--and managed to churn out a cohesive stew.

From left to right: Marshall, James Staffel, Lamont, Matt McClelland

Sunday night, the Sutra songs sounded among the best, standing tall with Yakuza's back catalog. Set opener "Capricorn Rising" gradually built into a chug, Lamont alternating between sax flourishes and a chanted vocal. Matt McClelland's brawny guitar carried "Burn Before Reading". In general, the rhythm section--bassist Jerome Marshall and drummer James Staffel--provided steadily swirling noise to contrast the unpredictability of McClelland's riffs and Lamont's incantations. Perhaps the most moving moment of the night was when Lamont, visibly choked up, dedicated a song to the late Mars Williams, a fellow Chicago area journeyman saxophonist who passed away late last year.

McClelland

Lamont, Staffel, & McClelland

Lamont, Staffel, & McClelland

Sybris' Shaun Podgurski and Angela Mullenhour

Speaking of decades of inactivity, how about Sybris? The local stalwarts, who have released only two records, 2005's self-titled LP and 2008's Into the Trees, played their first Chicago show in 10 years last summer and are now gearing up to release their long-shelved third album Gold on Hold (Absolutely Kosher), recorded in 2011. It's very easy to play "what if?" with the four-piece, as their unique mix of epic, feelings-heavy indie rock and nervy rhythms could have seen them further soar among beloved sounds and bands of the 2010s: the early 2010s emo revival, the late 2010s post-punk revival, Screaming Females, and Hop Along, to name a few. On Sunday, they primed the passionate crowd with clear old favorites, like the jagged "Hurt Hawk", country-tinged burner "Burnout Babies", slow love song "Blame It On The Baseball", and the thunderous "Something About A Darkhorse Or Whatever". As if to whet our appetites for what's to come, they ended their set with two Gold on Hold tracks: the unreleased "Dance" and driving album opener "Watermelon". For music fans all over the globe, Gold on Hold should be one of the more anticipated upcoming releases of the remaining year.

From left to right: Podgurski, Mullenhour, Clayton DeMuth, Phil Naumann

Naumann

Podgurski, Mullenhour, Naumann

From left to right: Oxbow's Dan Adams, Eugene Robinson, Greg Davis, & Niko Wenner

In between the two Windy City phoenixes? None other than San Francisco experimentalists Oxbow, who used the most of their 40-minute set, not limiting the sensory experiences and media to just music. Indeed, for five-plus minutes, they played a short film, whose images, sound-tracked by a droning instrumental, repeatedly cut to black, as if they were pulsating. All this time, they were burning incense. When guitarist/keyboardist Niko Wenner, bassist Dan Adams, and drummer Greg Davis finally entered the stage, they launched into the pseudo funk of Thin Black Duke highlight "A Gentleman's Gentleman". Eventually, vocalist Eugene Robinson sauntered on and did what he does: screech and wail devastating lyrics, his voice raw as hell, and expressively dance and convulse. Similar to Yakuza, Oxbow's most recent songs, from last year's Love's Holiday (Ipecac), sounded the most fresh and urgent: "The Night the Room Started Burning", "Icy White & Crystalline", and "Lovely Murk". The album version of the last one features Kristin Hayter, who Robinson made sure to mention was not there but is playing Thalia Hall in a couple months. Nonetheless, Wenner admirably filled in, emulating her soulful vocal turn. And the band took time to remember another experimental genius and collaborator who passed last year, Peter Brötzmann, but made sure to take advantage of Lamont's saxophone prowess, having him fill in on tempo-changing freak-out "Cat and Mouse". (Though "Cat and Mouse" was released on their sophomore album King of the Jews, their live version with Brötzmann has become well known.) While the three bands who played on Sunday might have constituted an odd group on paper, all share one of the preeminent qualities of good performers: unbridled passion.

Robinson

Robinson & Wenner

Wenner & Robinson

[donospl]

Co w jazzie piszczy [sezon 2 odcinek 7]

premierowa emisja 21 lutego 2024 – 18:00 Graliśmy: Rebeka Rusjan Zajc “Illusion” [fragm.]z albumu “Prelude” – Clean Feed Records Friends & Neighbors “Cecil” z albumu “Circles”– Clean Feed Records Jim Baker/Steve Hunt/Jakob Heinemann “Mozart” z albumu “Horizon Scanners”– Clean Feed Records Scheen Jazzorkester & Cortex “Weaving” z albumu “Frameworks – Music by Thomas Johansson” – Clean Feed…

[lyssahumana]

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Atlas Maior

Atlas Maior combines progressive jazz, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Indian music traditions in original songs that nod to tradition without being confined by it. Led by Joshua Thomson (alto saxophone, flutes) and Josh Peters (oud, lavta), the band will be releasing its next album, Hadal, in early 2023. Here is some of the music that inspires them.

Marcel Khalife—Taqasim

Khalife's song "Achikain" is currently featured during live Atlas Maior settings. Here Taqasim is a rare example of Marcel performing in a trio setting. Marcel Khalife would come and play Arab Fest in my hometown of Dearborn, MI. We were so fortunate to be able to host this Lebanese legend in our backyard. 

Amir Elsaffar + Hyper

ElSaffar's work, approach, and sound has influenced the band for years. Fairly recently we've been in contact which has been incredible. He deserves every ounce of success that he receives with his phenomenal growing body of work. I also recommend the album Rivers of Sound. 

Karim Ziad

The Maghreb region has influenced Atlas Maior stretching back to before the inception of the group. Here we represent this with Ifrikya. In 2014, our composition "iddaa!" was accepted as part of a live art sound installation within Moroccan taxi cabs for the Marrakech Biennale 5 Art Festival. 

Ornette Coleman

Ornette! Ornette! Ornette! Our latest single Basalt is quite directly influenced by Ornette Coleman. Specifically ,the rubato melody we perform as the beginning melody. Also the fact that we have composed material incorporating two drum sets reminds me of his son Denardo Coleman. 

Anour Brahem

This is such a beautiful album by one of the greats of the oud. Here, Brahem teams up with Holland and Dejohnette on a truly special performance. All of Brahem's albums are fantastic. 

Tarek Yamani

Atlas Maior caught Yamani's La Merce 2019 Festival performance while we were also on tour in Spain. We were captivated by his approach to both Middle Eastern and Western jazz musical contexts. He is able to blend both approaches in such tasteful well thought out manner while demonstrating his command of both traditions. 

Naseer Shamma

Tablas (both Egyptian, and East Indian) have always been a component of Atlas Maior going back to the beginning of the group in 2009. Today we explore the instrument in several of our live settings as the Atlas Maior Tabla Trio, and in the larger quintet setting. Indian and Pakistani music traditions have always inspired us. This is a fine example of Middle Eastern oud, and East Indian tablas.

Ken Vandermark 

There are so many incredible Vandermark records, this one is just great also because of Atlas Maior's deep love of both Funkadelic and Sun Ra. I love the way he interprets these works in a trio setting. 

Omar Khorshid

A long-time influence on the band. Many never think of Khorshid's approach to the electric guitar. His story, music history, and body of work are legendary in the Middle East.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Here I've selected a concert from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whom I was into probably five years before forming Atlas Maior. I remember walking around Ann Arbor, MI during a blizzard listening to this album. The legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, definitely one of the world's most prolific voices in all of music history. 

[diyeipetea]

Diez de... agosto de 2022 (I) Por Pachi Tapiz [Grabaciones de jazz]

Diez de… agosto de 2022 (I) Por Pachi Tapiz [Grabaciones de jazz]

Inauguramos la sección Diez de… de Pachi Tapiz con el repaso a diez grabaciones (más o menos) de lo más variado. Ken Vandermark, Perico Sambeat, Dave Rempis, Manuel Mengis, Juan Vinuesa, Wadada Leo Smith, Günter Baby Sommer, Moisés P. Sánchez, otok o Count Basie acompañado de cuatro vocalistas de primera son los protagonistas de las primeras grabaciones que pasan por la sección. Cada día diez del…

[burlveneer-music]

My WVUD playlist and stream, 2/18/2023

Sun Ra - Caravan (Sun Studio) Sun Ra Arkestra - Somebody Else's Idea Nostalgia 77 Octet - Love In Outer Space Matters Unknown - Hewester The Headhunters - Over the Bar Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter with Nate Smith - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap The Bongo Hop - The Red Hill (feat. Dafuniks) Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra - The Jam (feat. Racecar) Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad - Black Census (feat. Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison) Claude Cooper & Brain Fog - What's the Plan Astral Quartet - Halt! Emin Findikoglu - Çeçen Kizi Altin Gün - Rakıya Su Katamam Kutiman - Remotely Close: Silkyway (feat. Elif Çağlar) Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek - Bal Taranta Babu - Bilmediğim Ne Çok Şey Var Konstrukt with Ken Vandermark - East of West, West of East Kolektif İstanbul - M Köçek

(listen on Mixcloud)

[clubw71]

Soundbridges

Ken Vandermark (sax, cl)

Matthias Muche (pos)

Thomas Lehn (synth)

Martin Blume (dr)

Konzert am 6.4.2024

Der Name ist Programm ...

...findet

Schorle

[xerks44]

Peter Brötzmann & Paal Nilssen-Love @ Shinjuku Pit Inn (2017)

REMEMBERING PETER BROTZMANN MARCH 06, 1941 – JUNE 22, 2023

A TRIBUTE TO THE POWERFUL AVANT-GARDE SAXOPHONIST

Saxophonist Peter Brotzmann passed away on June 22, 2023 in Wuppertal, Germany at the age of 82.

He was born on Mar. 6, 1941, in Remscheid, Germany, and originally studied painting.

As a teenager, he saw Sidney Bechet perform and soon afterwards taught himself to play clarinet and tenor-saxophone.

Brotzmann was always most interested in free-form improvising, he developed a ferocious sound, and throughout his career, he played with the most adventurous performers including bassist Peter Kowald, guitarist Derek Bailey, saxophonists Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, and Ken Vandermark, and pianist Cecil Taylor.

His early albums For Adolphe Sax (1967) and Machine Gun (1968) were innovative and quite unrelenting; he led over 65 albums and appeared on scores more as a sideman or co-leader.

Brotzmann was a member of Han Bennink’s Instant Composers Pool, Last Exit (which included Bill Laswell), the Globe Unity Orchestra, his Albert Ayler-inspired Die Like A Dog Quartet, and the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet.

Although his playing never mellowed, he did record a surprising ballad album (I Surrender Dear) in 2019.

Here is a relatively brief Peter Brotzmann duet with drummer Paal Nilssen-Love from 2017 that starts out almost mellow, giving listeners a good introduction to the innovative saxophonist.

-Scott Yanow

[musicollage]

AALY Trio + K. Vandermark - I Wonder If I Was Screaming. 2000 : Crazy Wisdom.

[ support the artist ★ buy me a coffee ]

[zef-zef]

Free The Jazz (director: Czabán György) 2014

It's hard to describe what the word JAZZ means. Yet, when someone listens to jazz music almost instantly recognizes what it is, even if he never heard anything from that band before, or never encountered that type of jazz before. What makes jazz being jazz, who makes jazz being jazz. Who are these people who communicates with this extraordinary language? Can we even call jazz a language, or a form of expression; or is it more than that?

Our film does not intend to answer all these questions, it only wants to show you the vast number of things that jazz is involved with, and we tried to get you closer to the fertile process that keeps only jazz alive from the various styles established in the twentieth century.

The world-class musical life of Budapest gave us the opportunity to get in conversation with the key members of the contemporary jazz scene. Some names of the interviewees without being exhaustive: Courtney Pine, Mats Gustaffsson, Matthew Shipp, Peter Brötzmann, Paal Nilssen-Love, Soil & Pimp Sessions, Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Conrad Bauer, Trevor Watts.

[professeur-stump]

There is a balm in Gilead

607.  There is a balm in Gilead, Archie Shepp (Archie Shepp, Blasé, 1969) (Actuel, Byg) 608.  There is a balm in Gilead, Aaly Trio with Ken Vandermark (Aaly Trio with Ken Vandermark, I Wonder If I Was Screaming, 2000) (Crazy Wisdom) 609.  There is a balm in Gilead, Charles Lloyd (Charles Lloyd, The Water Is Wide, 2000) (ECM)

⌘ ⌘ ⌘  Ø

[donospl]

Co w jazzie piszczy [sezon 1 odcinek 15]

premierowa emisja 2 sierpnia 2023 – 18:00 Graliśmy: Pierrick Pedron / Gonzalo Rubalcaba “Ezz-Thetic” z albumu “Pedron Rubalcaba” – Gazebo Freddie Bryant “Columbus, Quiet – Haiku #1” z albumu “Upper West Side Love Story” Phil Haynes, Drew Gress, David Liebman “To Swing or Not(II)” z albumu “CODA(s): No Fast Food III” – Corner Store Jazz Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog „That’s Entertainment” z albumu…

[buttererer]

*** MYOPIC IMPROVISED MUSIC WORKSHOP *** 

JIM BAKER - Arp 2600 

MICHAEL COLLIGAN - Reeds 

KEVIN DRUMM - Guitar 

KEN VANDERMARK - Reeds 

 February 18, 1995 

 Set 2 

 Myopic Bookstore - Chicago

[dustedmagazine]

Russ Johnson Quartet — Reveal (Calligram)

Reveal by Russ Johnson

Four seems to be an auspicious number for Russ Johnson. While the complement of the trumpeter’s combos may change, they usually number four musicians.  Reveal is also part of another quartet, since that’s how many records Calligram, the musician-run label that is issuing it, offered in its inaugural release. The artist and company are well matched, since they share a disregard for the boundary between modern jazz and more avant-garde variants. One might even say that the album’s apparent mission is to show how much space really lies between inside and out.

The musicians accompanying Johnson are up to the task. They are all Chicagoans, which attests to the Johnson’s status as a not-just-honorary member of the city’s jazz scene even though his day job and abode are both situated north of the Illinois/Wisconsin state line. He’s put in the miles since 2010, when he accepted a position as the director of jazz studies at University of Wisconsin/Parkside, coming south to lead his own bands and play with others. The casting of this quartet is inspired. Ethan Philion is a young bassist with undeniable chops and a documented affinity for the music of Charles Mingus; he’s Johnson’s philosophical second on this date. Drummer Tim Daisy is a multi-decade veteran of Chicago’s improvised music scene, where he’s worked as an enduring associate of Ken Vandermark and Dave Rempis, and led his own projects, which have sometimes included Johnson. Violinist Mark Feldman is a longtime New Yorker with a yards-long cv. and the sort of versatility that you only get when you’ve put in time with George Jones, John Zorn and Sylvie Courvoisier.

Feldman relocated to Chicago during the pandemic and in short order kindled an initially private working relationship with Daisy. They’ve gone on to work together in mainly improvised settings, and their partnerhsip places the drummer at the apex of a relationship triangle that gives the performances on Reveal an essential zing. On one side, there’s a camaraderie developed by passing back-and-forth leadership roles and books of tunes. On the other, there’s a rapport forged in the real-time furnace of free improvisation. This breadth of understanding puffs stylistic and emotional oxygen into the diverse and intricate frameworks that Johnson has devised for the quartet. His writing shuttles between classical forms and blues sonorities in ways that’ll get the history-minded listener thinking about Julius Hemphill. While the forms and emotional arcs of the material feel pretty defined, there’s plenty of room for Johnson’s fellow travelers to adorn, comment, and maybe wiggle the steering wheel a little bit. “The Slow Reveal” starts out with a slow stir of timbres, which gradually resolve into a mournful horn melody that is pricked by vinegary strings. As Johnson persists, the rest of the ensemble shifts between challenging and supportive stances before joining him in a percussion-driven whirlwind that remains reflective and melancholy at its core.

But if Daisy was the relational focal point of this band going in, the emerging connection between Feldman and Johnson is what the material cultivates. The compositions guide them to commingled slurs, execute cascading lines, and offer commentary upon one another’s solos while Philion and Daisy either shade the action or set up rhythms sturdy enough to contain it. Feldman’s an old pro, so it goes without saying that he finds a way to make this music work. But this album feels like a beginning. Johnson tends to shake up the personnel of his quartets, not all of which make it to the recording studio even once. Here’s hoping he breaks his own rule and keeps this combo going for a while.

Bill Meyer