For many years reedist Ken Vandermark was one of the main engines driving Chicago’s improvised-music scene. He played all the time in loads of contexts, and regularly formed new configurations; along with gallerist and Reader contributor John Corbett, he brought to Chicago a seemingly endless stream of national and international musicians who’d never been here before; and he organized many important concert series. For much of the past decade, though, most of his work has been in Europe, and he hasn’t played as much in his hometown. In late 2014 he disbanded his last remaining local working groups—Chicago Reed Quartet and Audio One—and since then his performances in town have been less frequent than ever.
The second half of the first disc comes from one of three sessions conducted in different locations in Louisville, Kentucky, with the help of percussionist and music presenter Tim Barnes, who chose each environment for its sonic qualities: inside a reverberant ballroom; atop a train trestle; inside a giant pipe at a skate park. Below you can check out one of the recordings from the ballroom, a piece for baritone saxophone called “Cavern 1.”
