Live document of the extraordinary musical event during five nights stand at Alchemia club in Cracow, Poland in March 2004. Limited edition release: all box sets are individually numbered. Each box set includes 12 CDs and booklet with comprehensive essays, interviews and reviews in Polish and English languages. Exquisite packaging includes 3 x 4-disc units, each housed in a different 4-color folio. Absolutely unique design, five different covers and more!
COLLECTOR'S ITEM 12 CD's BOX SET
Live document of the extraordinary musical event during five nights stand at Alchemia club in Cracow, Poland in March 2004. Limited edition release: all box sets are individually numbered. Each box set includes 12 CD's and booklet with comprehensive essays, interviews and reviews in Polish and English languages. Exquisite packaging includes 3 x 4-disc units, each housed in a different 4-color folio. Absolutely unique design, five different covers and more!
Ken Vandermark:
I consider the five night stand by the Vandermark 5 at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland from March 15 -19, 2004, to be one of the highlights of my career...
Powered by iSOUND.COM
Tracks:
Album 1
Day One: Monday, March 15, 2004, Set One
1. Telefon (Vandermark) [08:36]
2. Other Cuts (Vandermark) [12:57]
3. Staircase (Vandermark) [10:45]
4. Strata (Vandermark) [13:43]
5. Free King's Suite (Roland Kirk) - Meeting On Termini's Corner; Three For The Festival; A Handful Of Fives [12:09]
Album 2
Day One: Monday, March 15, 2004, Set Two
1. Outside Ticket (Vandermark) [11:03]
2. Money Down (Vandermark) [06:33]
3. Camera [FIRST PERFORMANCE] (Vandermark) [16:53]
4. Roulette (Vandermark) [04:33]
5. Cruz Campo (Vandermark) [10:31]
6. The Black And Crazy Blues (Roland Kirk) [Encore] [08:36]
Album 3
Day Two: Tuesday, March 16, 2004, Set One
1. Confluence (Vandermark) [08:17]
2. Rip Rig And Panic Suite (Roland Kirk) - From Bechet, Byas And Fats; Rip, Rig And Panic; No Tonic Press [14:14]
3. Camera (Vandermark) [18:51]
4. Both Sides (Vandermark) [09:11]
5. Knock Yourself Out (Vandermark) [07:18]
Album 4
Day Two: Tuesday, March 16, 2004, Set Two
1. The Cooler (Vandermark) [09:19]
2. That Was Now [FIRST PERFORMANCE] (Vandermark) [11:32]
3. Six Of One (Vandermark) [22:48]
4. Silverlization/Volunteered Slavery (Roland Kirk) [10:42]
5. There Is The Bomb (Don Cherry) [11:04]
Album 5
Day Three: Wednesday, March 17, 2004, Set One
1. That Was Now (Vandermark) [10:46]
2. Seven Puls Five (Vandermark) [08:13]
3. The Bridge (Sonny Rollins) [06:54]
4. Gyllene (Vandermark) [09:34]
5. Auto Topography (Vandermark) [12:58]
Album 6
Day Three: Wednesday, March 17, 2004, Set Two
1. The Freedom Suite, Part 2(Sonny Rollins) [06:20]
2. Telefon (Vandermark) [11:23]
3. Initials (Vandermark) [07:12]
4. Camera (Vandermark) [18:03]
5. Other Cuts (Vandermark) [13:36]
6. The Black And Crazy Blues (Roland Kirk) [Encore] [09:04]
7. Knock Yourself Out (Vandermark) [Encore] [06:47]
Album 7
Day Four: Thursday, March 18, 2004, Set One
1. Money Down (Vandermark) [05:36]
2. Inflated Tear (Roland Kirk) [06:55]
3. Wherever June Bugs Go (Archie Shepp) [12:24]
4. Camera (Vandermark) [15:42]
5. Cruz Campo (Vandermark) [09:28]
Album 8
Day Four: Thursday, March 18, 2004, Set Two
1. Pieces Of The Past [FIRST PERFORMANCE] (Vandermark) [09:47]
2. That Was Now (Vandermark) [11:53]
3. Long Term Fool (Vandermark) [09:57]
4. Strata (Vandermark) [11:25]
5. Silverlization/Volunteered Slavery (Roland Kirk) [11:45]
6. The Bridge (Sonny Rollins) [Encore] [07:37]
Album 9
Day Five: Friday, March 19, 2004, Set One
1. Conquistador, Part 2 (Cecil Taylor) [08:26]
2. Knock Yourself Out (Vandermark) [07:22]
3. Pieces Of The Past (Vandermark) [09:47]
4. Camera (Vandermark) [18:02]
5. Cruz Campo (Vandermark) [10:16]
Album 10
Day Five: Friday, March 19, 2004, Set Two
1. That Was Now (Vandermark) [11:38]
2. Gyllene (Vandermark) [10:55]
3. Telefon (Vandermark) [09:49]
4. Ken's final speach [02:03]
5. Six Of One (Vandermark [22:49]
6. Other Cuts (Vandermark) [Encore] [13:42]
7. The Black And Crazy Blues (Roland Kirk) [08:20]
Album 11
Jam Session One, Wednesday, March 17, 2004
1. Free Jam 1 (Vandermark/Bishop/M.Oleś/B.B.Oleś) [11:35]
2. Free Jam 2 (Vandermark/Bishop/M.Oleś/B.B.Oleś) [05:17]
3. Free Jam 3 (Vandermark/Rempis/Daisy/Bishop/M.Oleś) [12:27]
4. East Broadway Run Down (Sonny Rollins), Elephantasy/Complete Communion (Don Cherry) [11:17]
5. Theme For Alchemia (Vandermark/Rempis/Daisy/Kessler) [08:55]
6. Bemsha Swing (Thelonious Monk) [10:54]
Album 12
Jam Session Two, Thursday, March 18, 2004
1. Round Trip (Ornette Coleman) [22:50]
2. Free Jam 5 (Vandermark/Bishop/Kessler/M.Oleś) [17:38]
3. Free Jam 6 (Vandermark/Bishop/M.Oleś/B.B.Oleś) [12:26]
4. Togo (based on a Ghanese traditional, Ed Blackwell) [04:09]
5. Lonely Woman (Ornette Coleman) [08:53]
Performed by:
Ken Vandermark - reeds
Dave Rempis - saxophones
Jeb Bishop - trombone
Kent Kessler - double bass
Tim Daisy - drums
Marcin Oles (on #11, 12 only) - double bass
Bartłomiej Brat Oles (on #11, 12 only) - drums
Ken Vandermark:
I consider the five night stand by the Vandermark 5 at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland from March 15 -19, 2004, to be one of the highlights of my career. The fact that record producer / presenter, Marek Winiarski, documented the series and is now releasing the material as a box set is truly remarkable, and I am very thankful to him and everyone who was involved in realizing this project; particularly the musicians, Jeb Bishop, Tim Daisy, Kent Kessler, and Dave Rempis. As always, they worked extremely hard during this residency, which came at the end of a three week European tour.
During our concerts at Alchemia, the Vandermark 5 performed 2 different sets of music with at least one encore every night, a total of 55 pieces: 32 compositions from 8 different albums, including 3 world premiers - "Camera", "That Was Now" and "Pieces Of The Past". What you hear on this collection of recordings is the best available representation of how the band actually sounded and worked in this period, with one marked difference. For the first time we were able to live and play in one city for 5 days, which meant I was afforded the opportunity to compose in the morning and rehearse material with the band in the afternoon, then play this material at the evening concert, each and every day. As someone who has always idolized Duke Ellington's methods of creativity, I conceived of the Vandermark 5 from the beginning as an attempt to develop, as close as I could, a working band based on Ellington's example. The quintet was formed in the spring of 1996, and by the time these concerts occurred four of the members had been working together since 1997, and the fifth, Tim Daisy, had been with the band for more than 2 years. Over that stretch of time, the Vandermark 5 went from being a workshopping unit that performed every week during the late 1990's at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, to becoming an international touring ensemble whose concerts most often occurred on the road in North America or Europe. During its entire existence, however, the group has always focused on creating new material through consistent rehearsal and performance. The shifts in the aesthetics of the band caused by this work are well documented
through the studio and live recordings available on Atavistic records.
This is the first occasion, however, where the quintet has been represented in the way it actually played - night after night. In most cases, the only people who really experience the ongoing process and creativity of a working improvised music ensemble are its members. At best, most listeners hear but one concert on a tour because the group will likely move onto another city or town the next day. One of my personal goals is to bring the music to clubs and smaller venues on a regular basis, for a series of concerts during several nights at the same location. The Vandermark 5 residency in Krakow at Alchemia is proof that the idea can work - we played to packed houses every single night, and the energy coming to and from the stage on those evenings is something I will never forget.
When Marek originally proposed the idea of recording these concerts the intention was not to release everything as a box set, something that would have clearly been considered economically insane, but to select the strongest performances for use as a double cd co-production with Atavistic. After the series ended, however, Marek fought for the idea to release all of the material in this production, and I am thankful for it. There are a few problematic moments on these recordings: such as the end of "Gyllene" from the third night, a screw on my baritone came loose during the final theme which made it impossible for me to play; and some sections of the new pieces are faulty, we were literally learning as we went along. (Note: "Camera", "That Was Now", and "Pieces Of The Past", were further developed and refined during work in Chicago and on the road in North America with the Scandinavian group, Atomic, during June and July of 2004. They are included in the Vandermark 5's upcoming double cd on Atavistic, "The Color Of Memory"). These awkward moments don't make me proud, but Marek's argument for including everything as it happened is a sound one - the music on these cds represents who we were and how we really played on those 5 nights in March, right or wrong. I feel very fortunate to have a document of these concerts, and to have been able to work with Jeb, Tim, Kent, and Dave for such a long and creative time. Here's to the memory of those nights, what they represent, and to those countless glasses of buffalo grass vodka...
Ken Vandermark, Chicago, February 1, 2005.
http://www.kenvandermark.com
Reviews:
The content of this website, and related pages, is copyrighted property of outside suppliers of online content. None of the reviews, comments, or other text on the website may be used -- in whole or part -- without express written permission from appropriate party.
© Michael McCaw (© All About Jazz)
There are so many different boundary-pushing musicians performing in today’s musical world that it is extremely hard to label someone as the one person in jazz making the largest impact in today’s musical landscape like the giants that have come before. But just as Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane pushed the accepted standard of what constituted the sound of jazz and the conceptions that were eventually accepted, Vandermark is making similar strides through performing and documenting music that is thoroughly modern and in the present.
more
© Derek Taylor (© Dusted Magazine)
What to do when the windfall stops? That's precisely the predicament facing Ken Vandermark these days. The annual cash flow from his Macarthur grant has dried up and with it the principal means of financing his numerous creative music ventures. The situation appears so pressing that he occupied the notes to his last large group release Map Theory openly theorizing solutions. The possibility of impending insolvency makes the appearance of Alchemia all the more improbable and extraordinary. A twelve disc box set documenting in full a five-night stand at the eponymous Polish jazz club seems the least viable venture for an artist swimming against the riptide of financial ruin.
more
© Dan Warburton (© Paris Atlantic Magazine)
Recorded over five days, from March 15th - 19th 2004 in the club of the same name in Cracow, Poland, Alchemia documents the entirety of the Vandermark 5's residency in that fair city, and provides much more than a snapshot of one of the hardest working groups in contemporary jazz at the height of its powers.
more
© Wawrzyniec Mąkinia (© Diapazon)
Rok temu niewielka salka klubu "Alchemia" nie pomieściła wszystkich, którzy chcieli uczestniczyć w ostatnim, piątym z serii, koncercie kwintetu. W relacji z tego dnia Paweł Baranowski napisał w Diapazonie: "spotkanie z The Vandermark 5 to jak spotkanie absolutu". I właściwie na tym powinienem zakończyć recenzję. Cóż, mimo, że jak i On - kaznodzieją nie jestem - spróbuję, przy okazji wydania płyty, podzielić się kilkoma refleksjami.
more
©
Maciej Karłowski
(Rubicon)
Byłem naocznym świadkiem występów Vandermark 5 podczas ubiegłorocznej, pięciodniowej trasy koncertowej po zakamarkach krakowskiej "Alchemii". To co wówczas usłyszałem i zobaczyłem spisane zostało w krótkim komentarzu, opublikowanym na łamach ukazującej się wówczas jeszcze "Jazz&Classics" i, prawdę mówiąc, po roku, jaki dzieli tamte doświadczenie i tę recenzję moje odczucia nie zmieniły się ani na jotę.
more
© José Francisco Tapiz (© http://www.tomajazz.com)
Muchos músicos de jazz suelen referirse a sus grabaciones como instantáneas del correspondiente proyecto en un determinado momento. Por tanto qué mejor manera de saber de un modo más exhaustivo que lo habitual acerca del estado creativo del grupo enseña del saxofonista de Chicago Ken Vandermark en el inicio de 2004 que la edición de las grabaciones durante cinco noches seguidas de sus conciertos en un club de Cracovia.
Quizás haya quien leyendo esto se plantee el caracter excesivo de una colección de doce compactos (cinco noches en programa doble, más la propina de sendas jam sessions tras la correspondiente actuación). También se puede caer en comparar esta caja con monumentos de la talla de las grabaciones del quinteto de Miles (ahí es nada) en Plugged Nickel o del Keith Jarrett Standard Trio en Blue Note. Estas comparaciones serían excesivas. Originariamente la idea era la edición conjunta por NotTwo y Atavistic de un compacto doble en directo. Sin embargo y a la vista del resultado de los conciertos, que recogían al quinteto en un excepcional momento de forma trabajando sobre un material muy rodado en directo en el tramo final de una gira por Europa, Marek Winiarski de NotTwo decidió editar todo el material grabado. El resultado es una caja (físicamente de un tamaño un poco menor que el de un LP) en una cuidada edición en dónde además del material sonoro (algo más de doce horas de música), incluye un libreto con una larga y muy interesante entrevista a Ken Vandermark, además de unos textos en polaco no traducidos al inglés (que no habría estado de más el que los hubieran traducido o al menos puesto a disposición de quien hubiese estado interesado en ellos de algún modo).
Entrando en la parte sonora, el grupo interpreta allí 34 temas diferentes como tales, a los que añaden 5 free-jams más una composición por los miembros del grupo en homenaje al club Alchemia, completando un total de 66 piezas.
El conjunto de composiciones propias del grupo (obra de su líder todas ellas), pertenece en su mayoría a sus últimas grabaciones, además de incluír alguno de sus temas clásicos. Su interpretación es brillante, con el grupo mostrando un magnífico nivel tanto conjunta como individualmente. La mayor novedad son tres piezas tocadas en estos conciertos por primera vez en público. Uno de los aspectos más interesantes de este disco consiste en apreciar su evolución a lo largo de esos cinco días y diez conciertos. Una de ellas (Camera) es la que mejor muestra el proceso creativo, ya que aparece interpretada en 6 ocasiones. Dada su estructura de pieza a medio tiempo, con una fuerte carga compositiva y una duración superior a los quince minutos, permite la aportación de diferentes ideas y formas de enfrentarse a ella en directo en sus diferentes tomas. Tanto esta como las otras dos nuevas piezas van a estar incluídas en el próximo compacto de The Vandermark 5, por lo que a su edición habrá que volver a repasar cuál ha sido su evolución.
Entre el material ajeno hay quince versiones de sus clásicos del jazz. Estas están siendo editadas en la serie Free Jazz Classics (que ya va en su cuarto volumen) como bonus disc a las ediciones limitadas de sus últimas grabaciones. Entre estos se incluyen piezas de Rahsaan Roland Kirk (protagonista del cuarto volumen de la citada serie), Sonny Rollins (protagonista del tercero) y otros como Cecil Taylor (con un repaso a Conquistador), Archie Shepp, Ornette Coleman (recreando Lonely Woman y un largo Round Trip), Thelonious Monk, Ed Blackwell (con la magnífica Togo) o Don Cherry, habiendo aparecido algunas de estas en los dos primeros volúmenes de los Free Jazz Classics.
Se incluyen también cinco piezas improvisadas, recogidas en el fragor de sendas jam sessions a las que se incorporaron los músicos polacos Marcin Olés (contrabajista con un magnífico disco a solo titulado Ornette On Bass también en NotTwo) y Bartlomiej Brat Olés (batería). Sin llegar a la brillantez del resto de las grabaciones (alguna de las Free Jam tiene un resultado bastante deslabazado), en estas cinco Free Jam (su título genérico) surgen unos cuantos hallazgos melódicos interesantes y unos momentos de una más que mediana brillantez, especialmente de la mano de Jeb Bishop y del propio Vandermark.
Sin ser la obra definitiva para quien quiera introducirse en el universo de The Vandermark Five (para lo cual recomendaría cualquiera de las grabaciones oficiales del grupo en Atavistic), para quienes lo conozcan este monolito logra vencer la prevención inicial (incluyendo la de quien esto escribe) sobre tan elefantiásica obra transformándola en una gran satisfacción auditiva.
More from Ken Vandermark on NotTwo:
