31 July 2006

Luckily, I’ve been able to see some amazing music since I’ve been home, and much of it has been at the Hideout for the Immediate Sound series. On June 28th Jeb Bishop performed with his trio, two sets of predominantly new material played in mixed suite forms; they put a ton of work into preparing for the concert and it showed. So far in July I’ve been able to hear Daniele D’Agaro play with Sean Bergin, Jeb Bishop, Kent Kessler, and Frank Rosaly (the interplay between the three horn players was absolutely fantastic); Fred Anderson’s trio with Hamid Drake and Harrison Bankhead (the first time I’ve had a chance to hear either Fred or Harrison in a long, long time and, frankly, they sounded better than ever); Michael Zerang and Ed Wilkerson Jr. as a duo (which opened up plenty of ideas about how to think about my own upcoming shows with percussionists). Tomorrow night the July programming is completed with a trio comprised of Joe Morris, Luther Gray, and myself. I’m hoping that Joe was able to get our album finished for his Riti label in time for their visit to town, I really look forward to hearing the end result of our work together that took place in January. In closing, I need to give a tremendous thanks to Mitch Cocanig; his help in coordinating the Immediate Sound series has been an immeasurable contribution to its success.

Ken Vandermark, Chicago, 7/25/06.