Skip to content

Tag: Ken Vandermark

A Master Improvisor Launches A New Tour With A New Band At BOP STOP

Published 13 April, 2023
Lily Glick Finnegan, Ken Vandermark, Beth McDonald
Lily Glick Finnegan, Ken Vandermark, Beth McDonald

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.

Continue ReadingA Master Improvisor Launches A New Tour With A New Band At BOP STOP
Leave a Comment

Blowing In From Chicago: Tim Daisy and Ken Vandermark Friday at Convivium 33

Published 10 January, 2023
Tim Daisy Ken Vandermark
Tim Daisy, Ken Vandermark

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.

Continue ReadingBlowing In From Chicago: Tim Daisy and Ken Vandermark Friday at Convivium 33
Leave a Comment

Guest Review: Ballister and Vandermark/Wooley/Lytton at Bop Stop

Published 25 April, 2022
Nate Wooley                                                                                        Fred Lonberg-Holm

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).

Continue ReadingGuest Review: Ballister and Vandermark/Wooley/Lytton at Bop Stop
Comments closed