Ken Vandermark | music clip of the day

Tag: Ken Vandermark

Wednesday, August 27th

sounds of Chicago & Norway & the Netherlands

Who needs coffee?

Lean Left (Ken Vandermark, reeds [Chicago]; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums [Norway]; Andy Moers & Terrie Hessels, guitars [Netherlands]), live, Belgium (Brussels), 2014

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musical (& other) thoughts

Ken Vandermark has a lot of interesting things to say about improvised music and life as a musician, about politics and movies and journalism and New York, as you can hear in this podcast-interview.

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Wednesday, June 25th

tonight in Chicago

These guys are playing at the Hideout, a small club on the northwest side.

Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone) & Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), live, Austria (Vienna), 3/8/14

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lagniappe

art beat

William Eggleston (1939-)

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Friday, May 9th

only rock ’n’ roll

The Ex & Brass Unbound,* “Cold Weather Is Back,” live, London, 2010

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art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago

Christopher Wool (1955-)

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*Roy Paci (trumpet), Wolkter Wierbos (trombone), Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone), Mats Gustaffson (baritone saxophone).

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Wednesday, March 12th

not for the faint of heart

Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet,* live, France (Le Mans), 2004

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musical thoughts

Q: What would people be surprised to know that you listen to?

Bill Clinton: Brötzmann, the tenor sax player, one of the greatest alive.

—Oxford American, 2001 (annual music issue)

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*PB, reeds; Ken Vandermark, reeds; Joe McPhee, pocket trumpet, tenor saxophone; Roland Ramanan, trumpet, wooden flute; Toshinori Kondo, trumpet; Jeb Bishop, trombone; Fred Longberg-Holm, cello; Kent Kessler, bass; Michael Zerang, drums; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums.

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2013

Tuesday, December 17th

sounds of Chicago

Tonight these guys, who play all over the world, will be at a little club on the city’s northwest side, the Hideout, as will I.

DKV Trio (Hamid Drake, drums; Kent Kessler, bass; Ken Vandermark, reeds), live, Italy (Sant’Anna Arresi Jazz Festival), 2008

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Joy—no one gives me more than Hamid Drake.

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reading table

God keep me from ever completing anything.

—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick

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2013

Thursday, August 1st

last night

I heard these guys at a small Chicago club (Hideout)—what a storm.

Peter Brötzmann (reeds), Ken Vandermark (reeds), Hamid Drake (drums), Chad Taylor (drums), live, Slovenia (Ljubljana), 7/3/13

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

When our minds are filled with music, they’re free of everything else.

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2013

Wednesday, June 26th

tonight

I’ll be at the Hideout, a small club on Chicago’s northwest side, seeing this Ethiopian dancer, this baritone saxophonist, and an array of other dancers and musicians.

Melaku Belay (dance), Ken Vandermark (baritone saxophone), Joe McPhee (alto saxophone), Milwaukee, 6/22/13

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reading table

wind blowing
paper fans rustling
rustling

—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), 1823 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)

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2013

Thursday, March 28th

Most saxophonists play with their mouths and fingers.

Not this guy—he uses his whole body.

Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone, live, Romania (Bucharest), 2010

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Sunday afternoon, at an art gallery on Chicago’s west side (Corbett vs. Dempsey), I heard Gustafsson, who lives in Sweden, perform with the Chicago-based reed player Ken Vandermark. One-word review: mesmerizing.

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musical thoughts

Sometimes discaholism is taken to its most further borders when the “holy 4″ is fulfilled:

When a vinyl has the holy 4 qualities: great music, great title, great rarity and an AMAZING cover and design!!!

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‘one piece of vinyl per day keeps the doctor away’

—Mats Gustafsson, Discaholic Corner