Gig: Vandermark 5

Vandermark 5

Supermarket. Tuesday, August 11, 2009.

Headed down to Kensington and into the back room of Supermarket right at nine to find a fairly full room, but still managed to snag a nice seat. The crowd was about what I'd expected: middle-aged white guys being the core, with smatterings of various other "types": proggy musos, experimental/avant heads, and even, to my mild surprise, a couple dudes in metal t-shirts. A few women in attendance, mostly girlfriends who came along for the ride.¹ A crowd whose members probably not only have alphabetized walls of albums, but also know who engineered their favourite discs and have strong opinions on the sound quality of their remasters. That said, this was a fine crowd to sit in, hitting a sweet spot between non-jabbering appreciation of the music without the too-serious "high culture" reserve that sometimes makes jazz gigs feel like a night at the opera.²

Saxophonist Ken Vandermark wears many hats³ but his Vandermark 5 is arguably at the centre of his work. Structured along the lines of a traditional jazz small combo, the V5 exhibits a depth of knowledge of the music's history but is profoundly forward-looking in execution — jazz that acknowledges, and lives in, a post-modern world. It's also, name notwithstanding, not merely a vehicle for Ken Vandermark — no rhythm-section-plus-blowing here, but a unit where each player brings a strong identity to the table to explore a steadily-shifting set of compositions and improvisations. On the stand-up acoustic bass, Kent Kessler might have the most traditional role, but his playing encompassed a wide rage, only at a couple times essaying a "typical" walking bassline. Tim Daisy's work included a lot of percussion-y bricabrac beyond his kit, adding to the music's texture, and when drumming, brought a steady backbeat that was satisfyingly rock'n'roll while still placing itself in a line stretching from Jack DeJohnette and Tony Williams and back. Cello player Fred Lonberg-Holm was the swingman of the group, neither wholly of the rhythm section nor the front line. Sometimes just adding colour to the horns, he was equally capable of stepping up with guitar-like tones — and on on "Second Marker" ran his cello through a raft of effects, twiddling knobs to get an abrasive, oscillating wave of sounds. The two horn players each played within a wide range, but never let their virtuosity get in the way of playing with emotion. As band leader, Ken Vandermark is utterly uninterested in hogging the spotlight, often content to just soak in the performance, and sometimes conducting the band with a series of hand signals.

There was no opening act on this night, but two hour-long sets gave good value for money. The first set ranged around a bit through the V5 catalog, including takes of "Some, Not All", "Second Marker" and "Compass Shatters Magnet". The second set featured all-new music from the forthcoming V5 album Annular Gift, opening with "Spiel", a suite-like piece with quiet interludes between frantic group work and climaxed with some excellent Ayler-like soloing from Dave Rempis. "Cement" concluded on a cookin' groove, and the set ended with "Cadmium Orange". Exciting throughout and the band, despite perhaps being tired at the end of a long tour, was in excellent form.

Although this kind of show is at a bit of an angle from what I normally attend, the underlying reasons for going aren't anything different. This isn't "difficult" music — it's just music.⁴

Listen to a track from this gig here.

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¹ It brought to mind an observation I'd made in a notebook once: "Jazz gigs and ballgames are places men go to be alone".

² It's also a nice change to hear music being produced in a different way, i.e. live right off the stage, with less mediation of microphones and P.A.'s. Not that I don't love electricity and what it does to music, but it's good to hear it the other way from time to time.

³ His discography lists more than twenty different combos that he has released albums with.

⁴ I also appreciate how Vandermark's relationship to the "industry" side of things has him acting much more like most of the rock bands I see — his shows feel more like "gigs" than "recitals", and he is clearly interested in cultivating an indie-ish rapport with his fans — you can most definitely go talk to the band after the show schlepping merch. They're also very cool with people recording them — I probably had the third-best equipment in the room on this night.