C/D S/D Ken Vandermark

I also like the V5's 'covers' of 'Free Jazz Classics', available as a dbl CD from Atavistic.

Honestly, I'm no expert with jazz, far from it...have a couple miles records, ornette coleman at the golden circle, go see the world by david s ware..that's about it...so you guys are kind of arguing some serious jazzbo stuff that's way over my head.

that being said, this was one of the best shows I've seen in ages...really amazing playing, great lyrical knotty stuff right next to free-ish freakouts next to more groove oriented r&b/rock oriented stuff....anyway....I came away totally impressed.

This was probably the first time that I'd seen a "real" (i.e. someone that's I guess it sounds like respected in jazz circles as a recording artist etc)...I've seen jazz bands at restuarants or clubs or whatever, but I guess they're probably the equivalent of classic rock cover bands or something...It was a great experience and I'm so happy i got to see it....I need to see more jazz live, was totally blown away...

I'm not gonna hate on the guy (and I don't think you are either) b/c he's not Ayler or Trane. He's Vandermark. And I think I agree with you, too, that sometimes on his own records, he seems to be holding back. But in person, and definitely when teamed with Hamid Drake, I find his music very well done.

One criticism I have of him, and it is one that I have to greater degrees with James Carter and with David Murray. They try at times (too hard it seems to me) to adopt the sound/style of other saxophonists, that their own voice seems less authentic, more chameleonic, sycophantic.

As far as the MacArthur grant, the reasons why one gets one are obscure, and I do not think that it (for the musicians who have received these in the past)is necessarily solely because of the musicianship. Having spoken with Vandermark on a couple of occasions, I think he has the intellectual weight to stand with any number of the other grantees.

NYC: see a documentary about KV and get a solo set for free!

Look here.

(i am regular ilxor, usually on chicago thread, occasionally elsewhere, rarely post to ILM...in case you wondered)

HEY JAZZ DOUCHEBAGS
I am not giving up on encouraging you to see this movie. It's quite good.

I concur.

Great movie, and Vandermark is playing solo for about 20 minutes before each screening.

i picked up the used CD of vandermark 5 -- acoustic machine.

anyway, it's really good and they are a great jazz groop.

that is a good album, though i haven't listened to V5 in a long time. burn the incline was/is my fave.

Saw Vandermark with The Thing earlier this week (and also Hstencil's man Evan Parker).
Mats Gustafsson: OH YEAH

Was not so much into the Parker combo, proving to myself that I like Free Jazz, but not free jazz?

MUSICIAN (movie mentioned above) is part of this elite 7 masterpieces
http://www.movieline.com/2009/12/7-masterpieces-of-the-00s-youve-likely-never-seen.php?page=3

just sayin'

I liked the film, but it kind of threw up more questions than it answered really. Mainly I came away wondering a lot more about how Vandermark makes the financial side of things add up. The blurb on the back of the DVD runs something like "commonsense tells you that it's not possible to make a living from playing avant-garde jazz, but Ken Vandermark does it." But what it doesn't do is explain how he does it.

I would like to know how much Vandermark gets paid for a gig and how that stacks up against his expenses - and you're welcome to say that's none of my business, but it was a glaring omission in a doc from a series that is about Work, and work is basically all about the exchange of labour for money. He certainly seemed to have a nice big house in (I'm guessing) Chicago. He also has a wife, of course, who may be the main breadwinner – again, the film didn't explore this. There was one brief moment of her opening what looked like a bill and sighing, but that was about it.

$265,500 from the MacArthur Foundation in 1999 helped. And I'm guessing there's some money from Europe. And his wife works.

But I answered hastily there, because I see what you mean about the work/labor exchange.

funny that this is one if the first things i see when getting online as just met him tonight as he spent the last week playing throughout Addis with Terrie and Andy Moor from the EX, Ab Baars (ICP) and Paal Nilssen-Love and as part of the ongoing EX Ethiopia project

Was not familiar with his previous work, stellar performance tonight that def made me want to explore much more, really bummed i had to miss the past week's work due to being stuck in wedding duties

and oh yeah, incredibly nice guy

there is the part of the movie where he divvies up the money after the powerhouse sound gig -- it's at schuba's, i think? -- and it's like "and here's an extra dollar for you because you drove"
it was in jest, of course, but it was well under $100 per person, which includes their rehearsal time, etc. not a lot. surely more than most bands, but not a lot of money.

I've seen him play here in Vienna many times over the past few years – like Brotzmann and all that crowd, he's a frequent visitor to Europe. His duo show with Nilssen-Love in a small jazz club was one of my shows of this year, no question. And as part of Brotzmann's Tentet and the reeds trio Sonore with Brotzmann and Mats Gustafsson, he always looms large. I kind of see him as the link between Ayler and Coltrane on the one hand, and the European guys on the other. He can really swing when he wants to, but his free improvising is as fierce and uncompromising as anyone's.

He just put out a pair of CDs of his duo with Nilssen-Love on Smalltown Superjazzz which are stunning. I also recently picked up a CD he did with Barry Guy and Mark Sanders called Fox Fire which is pretty awesome as well.

$265,500 from the MacArthur Foundation in 1999 helped.

I'm pretty sure a substantial amount of that money went into recording and bringing out the heavy hitters from Europe to be in his bands, which in turn cemented his reputation. This is from folks I know that know him - I don't think he saved/kept very much of that money.

When I saw Vandermark in the Peter Brotzmann tentet+2, that was fucking amazing.

Brotzmann is fucking amazing.

I mean, I can imagine him playing with Pat Boone and it being amazing.

ps feel like i should disclose that my husband is the person who made the aforementioned movie, hence my relentless hype
(nate -- he is the one who was with me at the agalloch show fyi)

pps i saw brotzmann solo once and it was pretty rad.

I saw Vandermark in '96 or '97 at a tiny club. He was a beast that night. I mean that in the most positive way. It's like the endless stream of notes were fighting each other to get out of that horn first.

his Marker album with Steve Marquette and Andrew Clinkman on guitar, Macie Stewart on keyboards and violin and Phil Sudderberg on drums is totally fab. It has tributes to Anthony Braxton & Bernie Worrell, Chantal Akerman, Pina Bausch and Cliff Richard. Well perhaps not, but it's titled Wired For Sound.

... disappointed if there wasn't a tribute to Cliff Richard on that album.

Saw him playing as Lean Left (w/ Terrie Ex, Andy Moor, Paal Nilssen-Love) last night. Great gig, but on the short side. Ken struggled somehwat to be heard over two electric guitars and Nilssen-Love's drumming (he is one of the loudest drummers I've ever seen) but more than held his own. Andy Moor is an awesome guitarist btw.

some of them ear blistering Scorch Trio albums featuring PNL with guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim are pretty ace, particularly the 2002 s/t one.