Ken Vandermark official site |
| Ken Vandermark on Twitter | Ken Vandermark on Instagram

Born in Warwick, Rhode Island on September 22nd, 1964, Ken Vandermark began studying the tenor saxophone at the age of 16. Since graduating with a degree in Film and Communications from McGill University during the spring of 1986, his primary creative emphasis has been the exploration of contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. In 1989, he moved to Chicago from Boston, and has worked continuously from the early 1990s onward, both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe, recording in a large array of contexts, with many internationally renowned musicians (such as Fred Anderson, Ab Baars, Peter Brötzmann, Tim Daisy, Hamid Drake, Terrie Ex, Mats Gustafsson, Elisabeth Harnik, Steve Heather, Christof Kurzmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Paul Lytton, Lasse Marhaug, Joe McPhee, Andy Moor, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Paal Nilssen-Love, Eddie Prevost, Eric Revis, Jasper Stadhouders, Chad Taylor, John Tilbury, Nasheet Waits, and Nate Wooley).

His current activity includes work with Made To Break, Lean Left, Side A, Shelter, Fire Room; duos with Paal Nilssen-Love, Tim Daisy, and Nate Wooley, as well as work as a solo performer. In addition, he is the music director of the experimental Pop band, The Margots, and since June of 2015 has been co-curator of Option, a music series held on a weekly basis at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. More than half of each year is spent touring in Europe, North America, Russia, Brazil, and Japan, and his concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. In addition to the tenor sax, he also plays the bass and Bb clarinet, and baritone saxophone. In 1999 he was awarded the MacArthur prize for music.

Photo credit: Jim Newberry

The Few on Soundcloud | The Few on YouTube

The Few brings together three of the most dynamic string players from the latest generation of Chicago’s storied improvised music community. Macie Stewart (violin / voice), Charlie Kirchen (bass), Steve Marquette (guitar) form an improvising, acoustic trio that deftly blends their wide ranging influences into a singular whole. In addition to their work as a trio, they have performed as a quartet with Ken Vandermark on clarinet and bass clarinet. They will be releasing their debut record on Marquette’s Two Cities label in December 2016.