Local improvisers Ken Vandermark and Tim Daisy renew their collaboration by composing new material for each other

The episodic partnership of reeds player Ken Vandermark and drummer Tim Daisy is an ongoing study in ceaseless change. Since Daisy joined the Vandermark 5 at the end of 2001, the two of them have played together in a variety of settings, using different methods to arrive at different sounds. Their output has included the Vandermark 5’s tightly charted, rock-tinged jazz; Made to Break’s electronics-infused experiments with shuffled structures; and the all-acoustic, intricately contrapuntal ensemble music on the 2017 album Triptych, which the two men made with clarinetist Michael Thieke. Between 2007 and 2011 they worked steadily as a duo, creating totally improvised music typified by the 2011 performances on the download-only 2020 release Consequent Duos: Series 2a. On that recording, they use their deep knowledge of each other’s playing to fuel lengthy, open-ended investigations of bluesy grooves, slowly changing textures, and lightning-quick geometric reconfigurations. This concert is the first time Vandermark and Daisy have played as a duo since summer 2011. It’s also the first date of a brief midwestern tour, and it initiates another new phase in their collaboration: for the first time, both musicians have prepared compositions, with the hope that a new method will yield new ideas.

Ken Vandermark & Tim Daisy Duo Thu 1/12, 8:30 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, $15, all ages

Read More