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
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Album Review
- F4 Fake by Mark Corroto
- Momentum 4: Consequent Duos 2015>2019 (Box Set) by Karl Ackermann
- Noise Of Our Time by John Sharpe
Radio
Album Review
- Roadwork 1/Roadwork2/Homework1 (Box Set) by Karl Ackermann
Radio
In Pictures
Album Review
- Collider by John Sharpe
Live Review
Read more articlesSeptember 22, 2020
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 22, 2019
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 22, 2018
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 22, 2017
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 22, 2016
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 21, 2015
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
January 18, 2015
Music preview: Saxophone and trumpet duo travel beyond the jazz code
September 22, 2014
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 22, 2013
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ken Vandermark
September 22, 2012
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