Friendly Experiencers,
It’s been a minnit, I know, but the last eight weeks has been a bit of a time, which is to say that big changes are afoot, but getting on the good foot, I should have the time and mental energy to resume the coverage here and there’s much to cover on the NEO scene in the very near future. So let’s get right to it.
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There are many reasons to pursue the life of a professional musician, but doing a van tour of the Great Lakes in January is not one of them. Yet Chicago percussionist Tim Daisy could barely conceal his delight at piling in the van and driving across I-90 for a concert with his longtime pal Ken Vandermark at Convivium 33 (I previewed it here).
“t was the first time I started driving around the country since the—quote/unquote–end of the pandemic,” Daisy said by phone from Virginia where he was vacationing. “We show up, there’s a nice audience, the music goes well, there’s a beautiful vibe, and I kind of had the sense of like, “Ha! We’re back to touring. We’re back.”
The experience was so positive that on Friday, Daisy will be back at Convivium 33 for another concert presented by the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, this time with his exploratory chamber ensemble Vox 4.
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In all manner of settings, from solo concerts to large group situations, multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark has proven his mettle as a fearless and resourceful improvisor. So when two-fifths of his new Edition 55 band were not available to tour, he added a new piece to the remaining players and rechristened the band Edition Redux.
But the story doesn’t end there. The new player, keyboardist Erez Dessel, couldn’t make the tour’s first gig, Vandermark did the math and made 3=2+1. Call it new math or even New Addition, but any way you look at it, Saturday’s New Ghosts concert at BOP STOP—one set by drummer Lily Glick Finnegan with tubist Beth McDonald and a solo set by Vandermark—adds up to an intriguing look at the ever-dynamic Chicago scene.
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Being a creative musician in Chicago almost demands a willingness to play anything, everywhere with everybody. Percussionist Tim Daisy and saxophonist Ken Vandermark, who will appear at Convivium 33 Friday, Jan. 13, embody that imperative as well as anyone, having collaborated with hundreds of musicians, movement and visual artists on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet despite lengthy resumes that suggest an affinity with musical speed dating, the two are just as committed to long-term relationships, especially their own.
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If you’re reading this page, it’s fair to assume that for you, creative music is life. It certainly is for me, yet sometimes life intervenes. That happened last week when a veterinary emergency demanded what little energy I had after a mad dash to the April 15 tax finish line. I was whupped, and not even the crash-cart energy of a New Ghosts double bill of Dave Rempis’ Ballister band and the trio of Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley and Paul Lytton could rouse me to leave the house.
Fortunately, my colleague and fellow western Pennsylvanian Mike Shanley is made of sterner stuff. Not only did he make the drive from Pittsburgh, he blogged about it on his shanleyonmusic site. Mike and I have similar tastes, and if you like what you read here, his blog is well worth a follow (bless you, Mike, for enabling RSS).
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