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The Vandermark 5 |
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Info: Biography, Pictures, Discography of all CDs & DVDs |
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| Holm: cello
Ken Vandermark: reedsReleases (click to view)Burn The InclineSimpaticoSingle Piece FlowTarget or FlagAcoustic MachineAirports for LightElements of Style, Excercises in SurpriseFree Jazz Classics Vol.V5 LiveFree Jazz Classics Vols.Discontinuous LineBeat ReaderThe Vandermark 5 was formed during the spring of 1996.Chicago Tentet, the Free Music Ensemble, School Days, Free Fall, and the Territory Band.Each of the current members has years of performance experience working with a wide variety of music.In the spirit of the great bands scattered throughout the history of jazz, the Vandermark 5 has concentrated on live performance as the means to hone its skills and develop its concepts.Their most recent work included a trip to Europe in November of 2006 to support the release of its newest album, A Discontinuous Line.After this, the band recorded a new set of material that will be released by Atavistic in the coming year.Holm joined the group in the summer of 2005.Despite its longevity this musical unit continues to develop, while creating new methods for the investigation of composition and improvisation.Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD.Target or Flag, The Vandermark 5 steered a thrilling course of musical growth that walked a delicate line between free jazz chaos and more traditional jazz forms.In 1999, Rempis replaced original sax player Mars Williams and the revamped quintet issued Simpatico (featuring "Vent").In 2000, the V5 returned with yet another record, Burn the Incline (featuring "The Cooler").Vandermark's saxophone and clarinet parts are sensational in their detail and precision, while the rest of the ensemble has only grown tighter and more sophisticated.The band's delicious fifth album, 2001's Acoustic Machine, displays similar eclecticism and dynamism.The Vandermark 5's breathtaking eclecticism and unparalleled talent makes the group a true giant in the world of contemporary jazz.Although The Vandermark 5 bears his name, Ken Vandermark is practical
enough to realize V5's success should be credited to members Jeb
Bishop, Tim Daisy, Kent Kessler, and Dave Rempis.For it is their commitment
and loyalty that allows V5 to be a seasoned quintet unlike any
other in modern music.Cold War Yugoslavia to the bright lights,
big city of Chicago.And there have to be
new ways of expressing that truth.All About Jazz: Being the last man on an already formidable deal
team is imposing.Jeb Bishop: I've done more gigs with this band than any other.TD: Yeah, it's a challenge.It's a great opportunity
and I don't take it for granted.Dave Rempis: It is interesting.Just as a band, getting to play
together that regularly, we really have an opportunity to get
familiar with each other's playing and get familiar with the music
that we're trying to deal with.Ken Vandermark: The willingness of the guys in the group
to deal with the demands I make on them.The band works a lot
and we work hard.V5 sacrifices monetary gains
to play nightly.JB: We're able to get beyond executing the material and to where
we're doing something interesting with it.TD: Being the youngest in the band, I am doing what I've always
wanted to do.The issue is, is music going to survive.The thing that made so many of
those bands great, whether it is the Miles quintet, or the Ellington
band, or Ornette's group, is just that they were playing together
every night.Coltrane and Monk playing six months in a row at
the Five Spot, that leads to something when you have that much
time to work and push through various lulls that you hit.The thing I get back from working
with The Vandermark 5 is the opportunity to explore on a regular
basis what it means to be an improvising musician right now
and face that challenge in front of an audience with fantastic
musicians, who are willing to collaborate and work together.There is an
immense amount of sacrifice on the physical and mental drain of
traveling.We can
rehearse as much as we want and I can write as many compositions
as I want, but it doesn't matter until we're in front of an audience,
wrestling with what the issues are of a particular piece, on a
particular night.AAJ: So it is remains fresh?JB: Ken is so prolific and he rotates stuff through the book so
quickly and he is always finding new approaches to how he
writes for the group that it stays interesting for me.Ken writes all the
arrangements and the pieces, but he is completely open for suggestions
from anyone in the group.That's what makes it a
really healthy relationship and very successful, the fact that there
is this very high level of communication among all the members
of the group.With The Vandermark 5, we're able
to circumvent fundamental communication issues because we're
rehearsing, doing a tour, or playing a concert on an ongoing basis.Not many bands playing the kind of music we're working with
have that kind of privilege.AAJ: Do you foresee an end?And as long as that remains, I don't fore
see a period where the group can't continue to be creative and
find new stuff to do.AAJ: Hip everyone to Elements of Style, V5's latest recording.We haven't done too many pieces of that length with this
band.Figuring out how to play a piece like that, how to pace it,
how to bring it to life was an interesting challenge.There is a lot of juxtaposition
happening on the record.KV: Having had Tim in the band for a longer period of time and
being able to work with Tim on rhythmic ideas, hopefully, it will
lead the band towards a better idea of what a groove is.AAJ: Has V5's notoriety tangibly increased?TD: I could sense a little bit even from the first European tour we
did and the next European tour we did.The guys talk about that
at times.KV: Yeah, I would say that is true.That was a very significant moment for me because the
word of the music had gotten there before us in a significant way.We
need to keep searching and we need to keep challenging ourselves.To me, the music that we play in The Vandermark 5 is
music.But for the music to survive and for the music to continue,
it needs to function as a musical outlet for everybody.I'm not interested in playing music for elitists.The Vandermark 5 and
have them perform in any context, in any city, of any festival of
any kind of music because I think that the music that we play
speaks to people.Otherwise,
the music becomes pigeonholed, categorized and stuck in some
stupid box that, in many cases, the jazz media caused to happen.The
arts going to work out fine.You don't need
to protect it.To call that music a commercial concession
is to actually not have listened to it.He set the bar
incredibly high for what we should be doing, our responsibility
as jazz musicians.As I travel in
the United States and in Europe, the issue isn't whether jazz is
going to survive or whether it sells three percent of record sales.The music has got to make sense and
has to have something to say to people who like music.There is amazing music happening in the underground.KV: The concern I've had in the last year or so has been the lack
of ability to access and contemplate the work that I've done.January and August off and give myself a month twice a
year to back away.By the end of January, we were really
financially strapped.For me, that means I've got to be playing concerts.I'm very, very
thankful for the opportunities to do these things.Google
Search
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MetaCrawler for Vandermark Five.Chicago, and his music was not universally accepted to be as significant as musicians' like Taylor and Braxton.Chicago Tentet, and the Vandermark 5, the latter of which has released over ten albums, including 2001's Acoustic Machine, 2005's Color of Memory, and 2006's Free Jazz Classics, Vols.Yes, you heard correctly.This video has been added to your favorites.The video has been added to your playlist.This video will appear on your blog shortly.Thank you for sharing your concerns.Thank you for flagging this video.Thank you for sharing your concerns.Am I the only one who thinks the bass player and sax player (other than Vandermark) look like two of the guys from Mythbusters??When i will have, i will put here!The code changes based on your selection.Late: THE VANDERMARK 5!The Vandermark 5 has always concentrated on live performance as a means to hone its skills and has played regularly since its inception (of special importance is their ongoing Tuesday night series at the Empty Bottle in Chicago that began in November of 1996 and has continued to this day).Art Ensemble of Chicago. |
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