Ken Vandermark

Reed and woodwind master Ken Vandermark is also a composer, arranger, and bandleader. His compositions cut across vanguard, modal, and post-bop jazz, classical, folk, reggae, rock, funk, and more. A fixture on Chicago's music scene for decades, he led trios on 1995's Standards, followed by dozens of recordings and tours with groups ranging from duos to big bands. 1999's Straight Lines, from his Joe Harriot Project, was an avant-jazz masterpiece that resulted in a MacArthur Foundation award. Vandermark 5's four volumes of Free Jazz Classics, issued in 2002 and 2006, showcased radical interpretations of music by vanguard jazz legends. In 2019, he issued Invitation to a Dream with Joe McPhee and Susan Alcorn, and the seven-disc Unexpected Alchemy. 2021 brought the poetic solo set The Field Within a Line, while 2023's Eternal River was a duo with Drake. In 2025, he, Mats Gustafsson, Tomeka Reid, and Chad Taylor issued Pivot.