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Ken Vandermark Resonance Ensemble: Double Arc

By Mark Corroto
December 1, 2015
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Ken Vandermark Resonance Ensemble: Double Arc

For the most part, we only follow the trajectory of an artist's career many years after his work has been completed. Looking back at the career of

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis, you can now play connect-the-dots from bebop to

" data-original-title="" title="">Gil Evans to modal jazz to electric Miles. Certainly, back in the day, many a listener knew not where Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) came from. We are fortunate today to have access to so much more music and an artist like saxophonist

Ken Vandermark

saxophone
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Ken Vandermark is not limited by the executives of a major label. His ability to release a dozen recordings a year, sometimes in multi-disc boxes, allows listeners to connect dots almost in real time. The benefit is, of course, the different ensembles and directions he travels are not disjointed or wholly unexpected.

Double Arc by his Resonance Ensemble, a collaborative big band of European and Chicago musicians draws on his explorations, not only writing and arranging for multiple players, but adds the electronics voice of

Christof Kurzmann

multi-instrumentalist

" data-original-title="" title="">Christof Kurzmann. Kurzmann is a member of the saxophonist's Made to Break, a groove-based improvising ensemble. This session, the fifth stand alone release, is the ensemble's most diverse and perhaps most unbounded recording to date. It draws from the composer's explorations as a solo performer, his love of 70s funk and action cinema, and his wholly improvised work with the likes of

Paal Nilssen-Love

drums
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Paal Nilssen-Love,

Barry Guy

bass, acoustic
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Barry Guy, and

Nate Wooley

trumpet
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Nate Wooley. This germination has resulted in a more open-ended sound, though one still without clutter.

The 14 tracks that make up this singular work oscillate between the odd electric gatherings of Kurzmann's electronics, the two drum pulse of

Tim Daisy

drums
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Daisy and

Michael Zerang

drums
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Zerang, and brilliant soloing by Atomic's trumpeter

Magnus Broo

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Magnus Broo, saxophonist

Dave Rempis

saxophone
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Rempis, trombonist

Steve Swell

trombone
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Swell, clarinetist

Waclaw Zimpel

clarinet, bass
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Waclaw Zimpel, and Vandermark's baritone saxophone. The music pulls together the classic Vandermark sound he created for (the now defunct) Vandermark 5, of a broad shouldered horn section march and his passion for modern composition with its indefiniteness. These seemingly two dissimilar elements coexist within Double Arc quite nicely.

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Track Listing

ARC ONE 1: Section A; Section B; Section C; Section D; Section E; Section F; Section G; Section H; ARC TWO: Section A; Section B; Section C; Section D; Section E;Section F.

Personnel

Ken Vandermark Resonance Ensemble

Christof Kurzmann: lloop; Mark Tokar: double bass; Magnus Broo: trumpet; Per-Ake Holmlander: tuba; Steve Swell: trombone; Tim Daisy: drums; Michael Zerang: drums; Dave Rempis: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone; Mikolaj Trzaska: alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Ken Vandermark: baritone saxophone, bb clarinet; Waclaw Zimpel: bb clarinet, alto clarinet.

Album information

Title: Double Arc | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Not Two Records

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