Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark (born 1964 in Warwick, Rhode Island) is an American saxophonist, clarinetist and composer who has lived in Chicago since 1989. He works across free jazz, composed jazz and free improvisation, and is known for leading a long series of groups, the Vandermark 5 above all. In 1999 he received a MacArthur Fellowship. While studying at McGill University in Montreal he led the trio Fourth Stream, then played in Boston before moving to Chicago. He came to wider attention with the NRG Ensemble and also played in the Flying Luttenbachers.
Radiale
Originally released in 2004 on the highly influential Atavistic label, Radiale is back on May 22, 2026, bringing together explosive energy, avant-jazz improvisation and experimental rock in a landmark collaboration. Featuring saxophone player Ken Vandermark, bassist Nate McBride and gifted afro-american drummer Hamid Drake the record has a slightly more exploratory feel.
Listening to Radiale feels less like following a sequence of songs and more like being drawn into a continuous sonic current. …
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October Flowers for Joe McPhee
October Flowers for Joe McPhee is a luminous solo work by Ken Vandermark, recorded in tribute to his longtime friend and mentor. Released by Corbett vs. Dempsey in March 2025, the album unfolds as a suite for reeds—melding lyricism, memory, and improvisation into a deeply human meditation on influence and kinship. Each piece, named after flowers, resonates as both homage and renewal.
El Infierno Musical II
By inevitable coincidence, a street vendor in Buenos Aires became an instrument of providence, when he compelled attention of Christof Kurzmann, sitting outside a coffeehouse. His merchandise were small books of Hispanic writers, and the chosen one that ended up in the buyer’s pocket some eighteen years ago was a collection of poems by Argentinean poet Alejandra Pizarnik. Her works abound with music and sounds or absence of it, appreciating silence. For Kurzmann, this served as a sufficient reas…
Pivot
"The band showed up, four folks from three different spots on the globe -- Chicago (Vandermark, Reid); Nickelsdorf, Austria (Gustafsson); Philadelphia (Taylor). They assembled their gear and sound-checked at the studio. There was a four-way freedom at play, structures but liberties and no need for elaborate explanation. Everyone spoke the same shorthand. Cues were understood; timings were implicit and considered; space was made for chances to be taken. In creative music, you sometimes need to re…
Fox Fire
*2025 stock* "There was a sense of excitement as the trio opened their first set in Birmingham of a mostly north England tour. Adjectives such as spiritual, energized, even devotional all come to mind. The meeting with Ken Vandermark in a classic trio formation of Saxophone (doubling clarinet), bass and percussion was suggested by Mark Sanders reacting to a tour proposal by the indefatigable organizer of Jazz events in the U. K. Tony Dudley-Evans. The music was like an initiation, a very special…
Abet?! አቤት?!
Specially released for Record Store Day 2012, April 21th. Recorded during two 'Saxophone' projects of The Ex in Ethiopia. Trio-side December 28 2009 in the Bateau Ivre, Kazanchis, Addis Abeba. Solo-side Februari 22 2011 at Yared Music School, Sidist Kilo, Addis Abeba.
No-Exit Corner
The second of two releases of this trio recorded live in Krakow in 2016 finds Chicago reedist Vandermark, German drummer Kugel and Ukranian bassist Tokar blowing holes in walls. There are occasional respites, say when Tokar takes one his fascinating, focused solos. But generally this is tough stuff. Vandermark is a master of taking a phrase and working it repeatedly, wringing out the last drops as he modulates his ideas to the boiling point. His clarinet playing brings to mind what Artie Shaw mi…
Japan 2019
PNL Records and Audiographic Records are thrilled to announce the release of the seven CD boxset, Paal Nilssen-Love & Ken Vandermark: Japan 2019. This co-production includes live recordings by this long-standing duo from their 16-date concert tour of Japan, as well as new collaborations with legendary Japanese musicians: Akira Sakata (reeds/voice), Masahiko Satoh (piano), and Yuji Takahashi (piano).
The Nilssen-Love/Vandermark is an internationally acclaimed percussion/reed duo and has been in c…
Eternal River
On their first stand-alone record as a duo, Ken Vandermark and Hamid Drake celebrate their 30+ year playing relationship with an electrifying live set of pieces, all featuring music composed by legendary free jazz musician Don Cherry.
McPhee Marker
Chicago-based saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark was invited to arrange a set of seventies music for a concert in 2019, and among the pieces he chose were tracks by funk legends Parliament and post-punk iconoclasts DNA. On this 12-inch 45rpm EP, Vandermark's band Marker presents a unique take on "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples," drawn from Parliament's 1975 LP Mothership Connection, and DNA's "Egomaniac's Kiss," which first appeared on the classic 1978 Brian Eno-produced collection No …
The Field Within A Line
With his riveting performance in the inaugural Sequesterfest online festival in April 2020, Ken Vandermark inspired the Black Cross Solo Sessions. Already in the early days of lockdown, making good on the promise – or threat – of protracted off-road time, Vandermark had dedicated himself to the creation of a new book of works for solo reed instruments, which he debuted that day. The result of this watershed moment for the Chicago-based improvisor and composer was a body of works that reassert …
Sound American no. 27 - The Life Issue (Book)
Sound American Publications' 27th issue, The Life Issue, proposes a reflection upon the smallness—and largeness—of living amidst a tumultuous, globally-shared moment. The Life Issue contributors include Claire Rousay, who writes about the many cuts accumulated while learning something new; pedal steel superhero Susan Alcorn recounts a battle with injury; composer Jack Langdon offers Sound American's second fiction offering, a story of how the pandemic affects a fictional musician, presenter, and…
All Directions Home
Recorded last summer at The Sugar Maple, in Milwaukee, the latest release from Ken Vandermark and Nate Wooley, All Directions Home, wastes exactly no time getting going. The opener, Vandermark’s “Another Lecture (For Walter Benjamin),” is a hearty, up-tempo blues that absolutely swings. Vandermark and Wooley trade solos woven between unison lines. They rapidly bound ideas back and forth, with Vandermark on baritone sax and Wooley playing to the middle. About a minute in, they lock into a fantast…
El Infierno Musical
** 2021 Stock. Edition of 300 ** Mikroton Recording presents the self-titled LP El Infierno Musical. Alto Saxophone – Christof Kurzmann, Bass – Clayton Thomas, Design – Marion Epp, Stefan Haupt, Drums, Vibraphone – Martin Brandlmayr, Engineer – Christoph Amann, Guitar – Christof Kurzmann, Lyrics By – Alejandra Pizarnik, Recorder [Contra Bass] – Eva Reiter, Strings [Dan Bao - Vietnamese Monochord] – Eva Reiter, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Ken Vandermark, Translated By – Cecilia Roj…
Light On the Wall
**2009 release** This double vinyl is the most welcome album of the series, with Ken Vandermark playing duets with Tim Daisy on drums on the first disk. The performance was recorded exactly two years ago in Poznań, Poland. The album starts with "Autostrada", slowly picking up speed with Vandermark on clarinet, then Daisy pushes up a kind of tribal rhythm, bringing the clarinet to full intensity, then slowing down for a nice melodious moment. "The Empty Chair" is the ideal Vandermark + percussion…
Largest Afternoon
One day in the studio, something ridiculously great happened. It was deep Chicago winter, cold as shit. Four musicians assembled for a round-robin set of improvisations -- duets, trios, a few quartets. Approached casually, the late morning bloomed into Largest Afternoon, 15 crackling encounters between guitarist Arto Lindsay, saxophonists Joe McPhee, and Ken Vandermark, and drummer Phil Sudderberg. No expectations -- open minds and creative intent. Lindsay, a brilliant singer and songwriter and …
Unexpected Alchemy
Polish label Not Two presents a massive 7CD set of unreleased recordings by Ken Vandermark in various combinations, featuring duo, trios and quartets with John Butcher, Joe McPhee and Mette Rasmussen on reeds and brass, Nate Wooley on trumpet, John Tilbury on piano, Ikue Mori on laptop, Kent Kessler on contrabass and Hamid Drake, Eddie Prevost and Steve Noble on drums and percussion.Disk One:Ken Vandermark / Nate Wooley duo1. Deeply Discounted 16:072. Sequences of Snow 19:17Steve Noble solo3. Pa…
Invitation to a Dream
**CD version** First release from the first time trio of legends Susan Alcorn, Joe McPhee and Ken Vandermark. Invitation to a Dream is not only the first recorded statement, it is also a document of the very first meeting of the trio. Back in 2016 we asked Alcorn and McPhee to play a duo set at our favorite festival Cropped Out in Louisville, KY, and after getting our minds blown we knew we had to get the duo into a studio to record an album. After a few failed attempts due to schedules and bad …
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Momentum 4 : Consequent Duos 2015>2019
**500 copies** A collection of duo recordings featuring Ken Vandermark in collaboration with internationally renowned, and critically acclaimed, musicians: Kris Davis, Hamid Drake, Paul Lytton, Ikue Mori, and William Parker. The material is documented on 5 CDs and was recorded during performances at Vandermark’s second Stone residency in New York City during January of 2018, and at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago.The improvised music included is remarkably expansive, in terms of instrumenta…
Kozmik Bazaar
**300 copies** After two critically acclaimed albums with the Japanese avantgarde / noise icon Keiji Haino, Konstrukt return with a new inspiring collaborative mind: Ken Vandermark, who for three decades now has been a highly prolific musician in contemporary jazz and free improvisation. With various groups like NRG Ensemble, Spaceways Inc., The Vandermark 5, Made To Break and his latest project Marker or the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet (to name just a few) and various spontaneous collaborati…
Deeply Discounted II / Sequences of Snow
**500 copies** This latest album is an exciting new statement from the duo, featuring long-form compositions for the first time, written specifically for the LP format and developed while touring in North America during 2017. Nate Wooley's piece, Deeply Discounted II, is inspired by John Cage's Cheap Imitation which, in turn, was inspired by Erik Satie's, Socrate. Ken Vandermark's composition, Sequences of Snow, is dedicated to the visual artist and musician, Michael Snow, and was influenced by …
Screen Off
The high impact duo of Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Ken Vandermark (reeds) has been working together at an accelerated rate since 2002, and they have put out seven albums of exceptional and wide ranging improvised music since then. Though they have both worked in many critically acclaimed groups- from the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Lean Left (with Terrie Hessels and Andy Moor of The Ex) to Double Tandem (with Dutch saxophonist, Ab Baars)- they have continued to return to their duo for more…
Four Sides To The Story
2006 release. NotTwo Records extremely limited, outstandingly lavish 2-LPs box-set (vinyl only no CD's) a beautiful felt cover, further pushes limits not only musical boundaries of improvised music but also the whole concept of conceptual package, as recently re-defined by its own issue of "Alchemia" by Vandermark 5. This exquisitely realized set includes 2 separate LP, housed together in a one-of-its-kind unique box with absolutely astonishing covert art. Comprehensive booklet with many persona…
Resonance
2008 release. Ken Vandermark has had a productive relationship with the Polish label Not Two, which put out the 12-disc boxed set of the complete Vandermark 5 at the Alchemia club in Krakow from 2004. The most recent collaboration has resulted in these two vinyl releases.The Resonance Ensemble is a 10-piece band that was assembled from Vandermark collaborators from Chicago, New York, Poland, Sweden and the Ukraine (where the 2008 concert featured on this LP was held). One might question how well…
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Duol
Although he is best known as a groundbreaking experimental filmmaker,
one of the architects of structural cinema, and visual artist, Michael Snow has been active as a musician since the 1950s. In Greenwich Village of the 1960s, his loft was the site of concerts by Cecil Taylor and other paragons of free jazz, and Snow's film New York Eye And Ear Control
featured a soundtrack by Albert Ayler's group and starred its members
(ESPDISK 1016CD/LP). A brilliant keyboardist and occasional trumpeter, …
Jukebox-Series 002
Trost starts a new 7" series called Jukebox Series, specially for one-time collaborations & projects. The paper-sleeve stays the same, labels are changing, and there's artwork by Lasse Marhaug. This time Christof Kurzmann teams up with Sofia Jernberg (Fire Orchestra) on one side, and with Ken Vandermark and Martin Brandlmayr (Radian) on the other for two versions of the beautiful song "Beggars." The lyrics are written by Joe McPhee.
Resistance
Resistance recorded live in 2013 is an expected performance of unforeseen music. That said, it boosts Vandermark's stock (not that he needs it) as a soloist. He has, of late, stepped out of his role as composer, arranger, and organizer of ensembles to perform solo and in improvising duos with Nate Wooley, Agustí Fernandez, Mats Gustafsson, and Tim Daisy. Freed from all the duties associated with large ensembles, he can focus on improvising. Here his saxophone and various clarinets weave, bounce,…
Extended Duos
The high impact duo of Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Ken Vandermark (reeds) has been working together at an accelerated rate since 2001, and they have put out seven albums of high octane improvised music together since then. Released now- their eighth document and the first to include guests. "Extended Duos" is a six CD, 1 DVD tour de force featuring Mick Beck (reeds), Tamaya Honda (drums), Jim O'Rourke (guitar), Akira Sakata (reeds), Masahiko Satoh (piano), and Michiyo Yagi (koto)- as wel…
Second Breath
Vinyl. Ken Vandermark, tenor sax, Paal Nilssen-Love, drums, Lasse Marhaug, electronics. Recorded live November 23rd 2011 at the Vortex, London UK by Mick Ritchie. Mixed by Lasse Marhaug. Fire Room, a collaborative international effort featuring wildly prolific Chicago-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark. This unconventional trio features Norwegians Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Lasse Marhaug (electronics), inceptive members of Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound. Exploring similar…
Letter To A Stranger
Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love are back with another amazing album. This time a studio recording, recorded in Chicago's Strobe Recording in January 2011. The album contains 10 new compositions of their characteristic soulfully groovy free jazz. Vandermark & Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking. Raw music with brut…
Milwaukee Volume
Revered reeds and drumming duo Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love return to Smalltown Superjazzz with another magisterial set of live improvisations. Released alongside their Chicago Volume, this disc was recorded live in concert at Milwaukee's Alchemist Theater on 10th June 2007 (the Chicago Volume was laid down the following day) and finds these two free-jazz maestros on blistering form. It's a joy to hear how the improvisations evolve - on 'Clean Sweep' the pair …
Artifact: iTi Live In St. Johann
Recorded on March 8th, 2008 at Alte Gerberel, St. Johann in Tirol/Austria at Festival ArtActs 2008. Features on trombone Johannes Bauer, drums Paal Nilssen-Love, analogue synthesizer Thomas Lehn & reeds Ken Vandermark.
Meeting in Chicago
A Meeting in Chicago finds Ken Vandermark teamed up with one of his early personal influences, brass and reedsman Joe McPhee, with frequent Vandermark collaborator, bassist Kent Kessler, rounding out the date. The recording took place on Valentine's Day, 1996 and was originally issued on 8th Day Musics in the summer of 1997; Chicago jazz and improvised music label Okkadisk reissued it the following year. Both McPhee and Vandermark use a number of instruments from the reed and brass famili…
Seven
Third album from Oslo's PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE & Chicago's KEN VANDERMARK who have previously worked together in SCHOOL DAYS & FME follows their 2 "Dual Pleasure" releases. While it seems barely possible, the duo have become even more groovy on this third album. Free Jazz w/roots in both the American & European traditions: warm, groovy, melodic & funky at the same time as it is raw, wild & energetic. The pure art of spontaneous music. Independent underground jazz at its very best & a free jazz master…
Dual Pleasure 2
Their first duo album “Dual Pleasure” was hailed as a masterpiece, and among others nominated for Norway`s Alarm Award. The sequel, Dual Pleasure 2 was recorded in the studio over two days in Oslo, while CD 2 was recorded live 2 days after the studio session at Kampen Jazz in Oslo. The result is “Dual Pleasure 2” , a complex and grroving piece of independent underground jazz. A clash between the highly influential and innovative Chicago and Scandinavian jazz scenes that started in 2000 when the …