Artists | Ken Vandermark (US)

Ken Vandermark (born 1964 in Warwick, USA) is an American composer and saxophone and clarinet player.
He has lived in Chicago since autumn 1989. Since then, he has performed or recorded with many musicians (including Hal Russell, Paal Nilssen-Love, Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson, David Stackenäs, Paul Lytton, Joe Morris, Ab Baars, The Ex, Mikolaj Trzaska, Marcin Oles, Waclaw Zimpel, Axel Doerner, Mats Gustafsson, Bartlomiej Oles, Wolter Wierbos, Joe McPhee, Zu, Peter Brötzmann, Fredrik Ljungkvist, Paul Lovens, Lasse Marhaug, Yakuza, Kevin Drumm, and members of Superchunk). He first gained widespread attention while with the NRG Ensemble from 1992 to 1996.
Vandermark is the subject of Musician (2007), one of a series of Daniel Kraus video documentaries on contemporary occupations.
He worked not only in jazz, but free improvisation, noise, rock and roll of various stripes, and other settings. His notable groups and collabarations are: Lean Left (with Paal Nilssen-Love, Terrie Hessels, Andy Moor), The Ex & Brass Unbound, DKV Trio (with Hamid Drake and Kent Kessler), Spaceways Inc, The Vandermark 5 (with Mars Williams, Jeb Bishop, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Tim Mulvenna, Dave Rempis, Tim Daisy), Territory Band, RARA AVIS (with Stefano Ferrian (soprano/tenor saxophone), Stefano Quatrana (piano), Luca Pissavini (double bass) and SEC_ (tape recorder, instant sound treatment)).
He was awarded a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship. He organized audiographicrecords.com/