Vandermak 5 Special Edition | The Horse Jumps & The Ship Is Gone | Not Two Records

Not Two, 2010 | MW 850-2 | CD

Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone & Bb clarinet | Tim Daisy – drums | Kent Kessler – bass | Fred Lonberg-Holm – cello | Dave Rempis – alto & baritone saxophone | Magnus Broo – trumpet | Håvard Wiik – piano

Recorded by Jason Ward on June 19 and 20, 2009, in concert at the Green Mill, Chicago. Mixed by Bob Weston and Ken Vandermark at Chicago Mastering Service. Mastered by Bob Weston at CMS. Executive producer: Marek Winiarski. Photo and design: Marek Wajda.

Thanks to the The Musicians, Dave Jemilo and the staff of the Green Mill, Jason Ward, Bob Weston and Marek Wajda.

Special thanks to Marek Winiarski.

Tracklist Album 1 The Horse Jump:  1. Friction [12:15] 2. Some Not All [13:41] 3. New Weather [12:31] 4. Second Marker 5. Cadmium Orange [10:39]

Tracklist Album 2 The Ship Is Gone: 1. Green Mill Tilter [10:01] 2. Desireless [10:32] 3. Early Color [13:30] 4. Cement [12:14] 5. Nameless [15:17]

This 2-CD’s set documents an expanded Vandermark 5

at Chicago’s Green Mill club in June of 2009. The quintet is assisted by Scandinavian stalwarts Magnus Broo (trumpet) and Håvard Wiik (piano), both members of Atomic who previously worked with several members of the Chicago outfit. The album once again proves that the Vandermark catalogue for this band is an awe-inspiring work-in-progress. Using several songs from ‘Annular Gift’ (Not Two, 2009) as a foundation, leader Ken Vandermark augmented his compositions, rewriting passages and rethinking their structures to fit this seven-piece Special Edition. The result is a striking balance of tight interplay, free excursions and anything in between. The album includes recent compositions, returns to ‘A Discontinuous Line’ and ‘Beat Reader’ (with a marvellous version of “Friction”), contains one new composition (“Nameless”) and two pieces composed by the guests: Broo’s “New Weather” and Wiik’s “Green Mill Tilter”. ‘The Horse Jumps And The Ship Is Gone’ is another strong V5-release, that not only confirms Vandermark’s reputation as one of the hardest working men in the business, but also the band’s telepathic interplay and adventurous spirit. — Instantjazz Blog

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With the 16th official release by The Vandermark 5

composer/director/leader Ken Vandermark invites two guest musicians to share the stage. Norwegian pianist Havard Wiik and Swedish trumpeter Magnus Broo are, however, no strangers to projects by the reedman and company. That familiarity yields this solid June, 2009 live date at Chicago’s Green Mill.

Broo, an excellent inside/out player, can be heard in the European equivalent to the V5—Atomic—and in The Angles. Likewise, Wiik is a member of Atomic and Vandermark’s chamber music project, Freefall, with bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten.

The V5-plus-two plays Vandermark 5 music, with the exception of one track from Broo, banking on the now patented Vandermark structured compositions that give way to plenty of soloing. The lineup of V5 with Fred Lonberg-Holm is no longer new, the cellist fitting nicely into the band’s structure for several albums at this point.

Heard here, this special edition draws music from three previous V5 records—Annular Gift (Not Two, 2009), Beat Reader (Atavistic, 2008), and the LP-only Four Sides to the Story (Not Two, 2006)—plus a new track, “Green Mill Tilter,” which opens the second disc as a sort of Leonard Bernstein tribute, before swerving off the road into a Wiik piano solo that blends sounds from both Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor. Like any good Vandermark piece, the music is marked by organized horn sections and embellished soloing.

The modernity of this work calls for standing back and absorbing the music as a whole, and inspect pieces and parts for their individual beauty. Indeed, Vandermark writes with simple beauty on “Early Color,” with a delicacy and grace that opens up solos from Wiik, Lonberg-Holm, Broo, and drummer Timothy Daisy. He also rocks the house with “Cement,” which opens with Daisy’s solo and then rolls like an over-the-road trucker with heavy beats and swinging solos from others in the expanded group.

With the inclusion of Wiik and Broo, the Vandermark 5 never skips a beat and delivers a very solid effort. — Mark Corroto

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Double CD version (incl. shipment cost world-wide)

$ 26.00
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