For the past 20 years, Ken Vandermark has been exploring and and working to expand the possibilities of improvised and composed music in North America and Europe.
Since moving to Chicago from Boston in 1989, he's performed and recorded withinin a variety of contexts, and with many internationally renowned musicians. Past groups of significance include the NRG Ensemble, the DKV Trio, AALY, the Vandermark Quartet, Spaceways Inc., School Days, Cinghiale, Witches & Devils, Steam, and Caffeine. Currently, the majority of his work as a composer and improviser has been directed toward the Vandermark 5, Powerhouse Sound, the Frame Quartet, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Sonore, separate duos with the percussionists Tim Daisy and Paal Nilssen-Love, the Territory Band, CINC, and Free Fall.
Beyond creating music, Ken has made many significant, and highly respected contributions to both the local and international jazz/improvised music collectives. In 1996, he and writer John Corbett began co-organizing the Empty Bottle "Wednesday Night Jazz Series," concerts that brought musicians from Chicago, North America, and Europe to audiences on a weekly basis for nearly a decade. Starting in April 2006 Ken has been co-directing the "Immediate Sound Series" with Mitch Cocanig at the Hideout in Chicago, continuing the programming he began in the mid 1990s. In addition, since the fall of 2005 he has been a member of Umbrella Music, a musician led group of organizers based in his hometown. His work as a presenter led to being invited to act as the creative director for the ACME Festival, a four-day event held in Athens, Georgia, during April, 2004, which featured concerts and workshops involving 21 musicians from Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United States.
-Was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 1999.
-One of the "Chicagoans of the Year in the Arts, 1994" (Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1995) for the Vandermark Quartet.
-Selected as one of the "25 For The Future," the most significant improvising musicians under the age of 40 by Down Beat Magazine, June 1998.
-In 2004, Ken was named one of the "Musicians Of The Year" by All About Jazz, New York.