A Little more Vandermark

I loaded one of my Vandermark 5 recordings into my car’s player the other day.  I have been grooving to it over short trips ever since.  The Color of Memory is one of those spectacular jazz recordings that very few people will ever hear, or so is my guess. 

Ken Vandermark may be the single best sax player in the business.  He is completely fearless.  His recordings make no compromises.  One number will be very accessible while the next will be in the Twilight Zone.  He incorporates themes from every conceivable genre, yet keeps a blues/jazz bass always at hand.  I am a big fan. 

I have been playing ‘Vehicle’ for some time.  I have added ‘Chance’.  Enjoy. 

Vandermark 5

Somehow Ken Vandermark manages to produce a steady stream of recordings despite the uncompromising character of his music.  Not only is he unwilling to compromise in any commercial sense, he is unwilling compromise with ordinary jazz sensibilities.  Any given Vandermark 5 album will have a range of compositions each of which challenges the mood and taste that might have been satisfied by the previous piece.  

Still, much of his work is firmly rooted in the common soil of blues-based jazz.  A good case in point are the Free Jazz Classics, vol 1-4.  Even the title of that series of live recordings is challenging.  Free jazz conjures up a picture of musicians spontaneously conversing without the encumbrance of either a plan or a melody.  What exactly could a "free jazz classic" possibly mean?  The answer, of course, is that just because the original piece (say, by Ornette Coleman or Anthony Braxton) was free doesn't mean that it didn't produce both a plan and a melody that could be executed again.  So is the repeat version really free itself?  That is a bit beyond my grasp of musical metaphysics.  

I will only say that the Free Jazz Classics is a smashing collection of jazz performances.  I am playing 'The Earth/Jerry/The Moon' and 'C.M.E./G Song' from vol. 2.  The former is a Frank Wright composition, from Wright's album The Earth.  The latter is a Julius Hemphill piece.  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Kent Kessler
• Drums – Tim Mulvenna
• Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Dave Rempis
• Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet [B♭], Bass Clarinet – Ken Vandermark
• Trombone – Jeb Bishop

I am also playing 'The Earth' from the Frank Wright Trio album of that name.  Here is the trio:

• Frank Wright (ts)
• Henry Grimes (b)
• Tom Price (d)

Wright's horn here sounds a lot like Albert Ayler (though it is rather more coherent than was Ayler's style).   It is an interesting study to compare the Vandermark version with Wright's original.  Both are well worth your dime. 
 

Another Jazz Ken: Ken Vandermark & the Vandermark 5

In addition to myself and Ken Laster, we have Ken Vandermark.  All he has over us is that he can actually play jazz.  Vandermark is a horn player (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet) and prolific recorder and composer.  To judge by the two albums I have purchased, his work shows the rewards and risks of avant garde jazz.  

The Vandermark Five is his main band, though he appears to have several others.  Burn the Incline, and Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise demonstrate the same genius for invention in music as they do in titles.  It is no wonder, perhaps, that Vandermark was the recipient of a MacArthur "genius award."  Both recordings stretch from edgy bop to out there free jazz, and sometimes the stretch is visible in the same number.  There is a strong element of blues funk running through a lot of the songs.  

I like a lot of what I am hearing here, but I like the more melodic numbers more than the more free base anti-compositions.   Of the two, I think Elements is the better work.  

Here are some samples.  With the reservations noted, I think they are welcome additions to any good collection.  

The Vandermark 5/Outside Ticket/Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise

The Vandermark 5/Distance/Burn the Incline