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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. Starting in April 2006, Ken has continued this work by co-directing the "Immediate Sound Series" with Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout. Since the fall of 2005 he has also been a member of Umbrella Music, a musician based group of organizers collaborating in Chicago. His work as a presenter led to the invitation to act as creative director for the ACME Festival, a four-day event held in Athens, Georgia, during April, 2004, which featured concerts and workshops involving 21 musicians from Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United States.

Awards

Was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 1999.
One of the "Chicagoans of the Year in the Arts, 1994" (Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1995) for the Vandermark Quartet
Selected as one of the "25 For The Future," the most significant improvising musicians under the age of 40 by Down Beat Magazine, June 1998
in 2004, Ken was named one of the "Musicians Of The Year" by All About Jazz, New York.

Ken Vandermark’s Edition Redux at BOP STOP at The Music Settlement

by John Chacona
March 10, 2024

Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux BOP STOP at The Music Settlement Cleveland, OH February 27, 2024 Every jazz concert brings an experience that you've never had before and likely weren't expecting. In the case of the jny: Cleveland concert by protean saxophonist Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux, the source was a new Apple Watch that helpfully issued a dangerous sound level warning when the volume inside BOP STOP hit 97 decibels. The concert was the ...

In Pictures

Festival Music Unlimited 37

by Luciano Rossetti
December 30, 2023

A collection of photos from the Festival Music Unlimited 37 in Wels from November 10 to 12, 2023 under the artistic direction of Wolfang Hermann--featuring Ken Vandermark, Ava Mendoza, Andy Moor, Terrie Ex, Dave Rempis, Mats Gustafsson, Dieb13, Susana Santos Silva, Fred Frith, Christof Kurzmann and many others along with a photo exhibition by Uli Templin. ...

Album Review

Transatlantic Five: Transitions

Read "Transitions" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 20, 2023

There is an expression in meditation for when an individual is concentrating on their breath, “it's a simple practice, but not easy." A similar statement might be made about Transitions by the Transatlantic Five. The music is not simple, but it is easy. Easy, at least for this quintet. The American duo of Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone, clarinet) and trumpeter Nate Wooley crossed an ocean (thus the name) to perform and record with the German trio of vibraphonist ...

Album Review

Ivo Perelman: Reed Rapture in Brooklyn

Read "Reed Rapture in Brooklyn" reviewed by Jeff Schwartz

by Jeff Schwartz
June 13, 2023

Is this album fundamentally unreviewable? Are there jazz fans who do not immediately know if they need an 11-hour collection of 103 improvised duets between Ivo Perelman and a dozen saxophonists and clarinetists? It is at least describable. Perelman is faithful to his tenor, while his partners bring examples of nearly every type of saxophone, from soprillo to contrabass, as well as most of the clarinet family. Although all tracks are free improvisations, the default mode is ...

Interview

Ken Vandermark: Returning To The Road With A New Band And New Energy

by John Chacona
April 26, 2023

For three decades, Ken Vandermark has criss-crossed the globe as one of music's most restless and exploratory improvisors. Yet as he embarked on a tour in Spring 2023, his improvisatory skills were put to the test--not as a musician, but as a bandleader and organizer. He assembled a new band, Edition 55, that includes some of the most adventurous young musicians on the jny: Chicago scene: Lily Finnegan on drums, tubist Beth McDonald, cellist Katinka [Kleijn and bassist ...

Radio & Podcasts

Reed Rapture With Vandemark And More

by Bob Osborne
February 16, 2023

On this show we conclude our twelve week look at Ivo Perelman's Reed Rapture In Brooklyn with music from his partnership with Ken Vandermark. There is also further music from Vandermark plus new albums from Mark Ortwein, John Bailey and Dave Stryker.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Ivo Perelman and Ken Vandermark “Four" from Reed Rapture In Brooklyn (Mahalaka Music) 00:54 Ken Vandermark, Klaus Kugel, Mark Tokar “Automatic Suite" from Escalator (Not Two Records) 05:30 Mark Ortwein “It Was Time" ...

Album Review

Ivo Perelman: Reed Rapture in Brooklyn

Read "Reed Rapture in Brooklyn" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 13, 2022

"Let's play two," the famous line by the Cubs Hall-of-Fame baseball player Ernie Banks in 1969, uttered when the temperature in Chicago had reached 105 degrees (40.5 celsius) and his teammates were exhausted, might find its analogy with this massive undertaking from saxophonist Ivo Perelman. At eleven hours in length though, the two games Banks cited are not single games, but more like two double-headers here. Like the baseball infielder, Perelman has limitless energy and a never-ending appetite for creativity, ...

Birthday