Another dynamic duo: notable, leading-edge Jazz musicians, each a leader from Chicago & New Haven
Summary
Ken Vandermark, tenor, Bp clarinet. From New Haven, Joe Morris, guitar. Joe is as well-known internationally as any on the planet! Ken Vandermarkโa McArthur Fellow โGeniusโ awardee, 1999โis also more than just a (great) guest musician, has been a leader and contributor to others for decades, grew up in Natick, Mass and part of the Boston Jazz scene then.
Contact: Alex @ Creative Music Series,alexlemski@gmail.com, 617/800-7255
https://www.creativemusicseries.com/ ...
read more
Another dynamic duo: notable, leading-edge Jazz musicians, each a leader from Chicago & New Haven
Summary
Ken Vandermark, tenor, Bp clarinet. From New Haven, Joe Morris, guitar. Joe is as well-known internationally as any on the planet! Ken Vandermarkโa McArthur Fellow โGeniusโ awardee, 1999โis also more than just a (great) guest musician, has been a leader and contributor to others for decades, grew up in Natick, Mass and part of the Boston Jazz scene then.
Contact: Alex @ Creative Music Series,alexlemski@gmail.com, 617/800-7255
https://www.creativemusicseries.com/
www.lilypadinman.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/3370469776519085?
Morrisโ impact on Vandermarkโs creative path goes back to the mid-1980s, when he heard Joe perform in the Boston with his trio and his group Sweatshop on a regular basis.
"One of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S."
Will Montgomery, The Wire
"โฆ the guitar revolutionary to pay attention to."
NORMAN WEINSTEIN, THE BOSTON PHOENIX
"โฆ a guitarist whose sound is completely his own, oscillating between deadpan sweetness and dangerous, shrapnel-like caprice."
K. LEANDER WILLIAMS, THE VILLAGE VOICE
"โฆ he sounds like no one else."
ART LANGE, THE WIRE
โThe fire-breathing Ken Vandermark takes chances that others dare not pursue, risk ridicule in the hopes of finding a new path?โ
Chicago Tribune
โPlaying from skeletal scores that barely outlined themes, this quartet covered a more sweeping range of ideas than skeptics of the jazz avant-garde might have expected. Tender melodic passages alternated with tempestuous bursts of noise (or something close to it); rhythmically chaotic pieces were followed by good old-fashioned swing backbeats. Practically everything in the syntax of jazz was open for discussion โ and re-examinationโ.
Vandermarkโinitially categorized as an energy playerโhas become increasingly taxonomical in his approach, like his heroes Anthony Braxton and British sax scientist John Butcher. Each of Vandermarkโs improvisations was clearly discernible from the last, not merely a cavalcade of techniques or effects required to sustain momentum. Though tenor is terra firma for him, Vandermark is equally bold on baritone and clarinets. Down Beat
โEssentially Iโm self-taught, so I didnโt have school chops. I can read music and things like that, but Iโm not a harmonically based player in a conventional way at all. I donโt play music that deals with chord changes. I donโt really care for that. I donโt hear music that way, and I donโt function well in those environments. I think some people thought, โHe canโt really play.'โ
Joe Morris, Ken Vandermark, Luther Gray Rebus CD (Clean Feed) 2007
Ken Vandermark & Pandelis Karayorgis Foreground Music CD (OkkaDisk) 2007
https://vandermark1.bandcamp.com/album/like-rays trio with Joe / piano, โ96
https://vandermark1.bandcamp.com/album/deep-telling trio with joe / drums
Joe Morris & Ken Vandermark Consequent Duos: series 2B 2019
https://kenvandermark.bandcamp.com/album/consequent-duos-series-2b, August 13th of 2019.
show less
