Spoiled
* The Vandermark 5: IV (11.0 mb) | Vandermark_5_MP3 (82.0 mb) | Vandermark_5_Flac (292.0 mb)
From Live At The Beat Kitchen : Dec 29th, 2006 : Chicago, IL
One of the problems with living in such a culturally rich city is that you begin taking things for granted. Recently, it’s been way too easy to say: “I’ll skip this show/art opening/whatever tonight because similar things’ll come along again”. But luckily I’ve snapped out of it and been going out to see more shows and whatnot. And it all started with an incredible show by Ken Vandermark (local improv saxophonist extraordinaire) and Paal Nilssen-Love (maniac Norwegian drummer). It’d been a long while since I’d seen some free jazz and this show reminded me of why I love it so much.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Ken Vandermark play, but each time is a revelation. His main group The Vandermark 5, is a highly honed jazz/improv ensemble. They played weekly shows for the longest time and you can really tell, by how well they play together. This show, played at The Beat Kitchen in Chicago is totally awesome. What I really like about this group is that it’s not just about free improvisation. They work off of scores, so there’s a lot of structure to their songs, which are complemented by the free improv sections. Enjoy!
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