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