Wooley / Vandermark Duo (Active)

Biography

Chicago saxophonist/composer Ken Vandermark and New York trumpet stalwart Nate Wooley had been operating in each other’s orbits for several years- having worked together with Paul Lytton, Joe Morris, Agusti Fernandez, and Terrie Ex- before putting together their duo project in October 2013, when they toured the United States for the first time. With this unique ensemble, they deal directly with each other’s iconoclastic compositional and improvisational vocabularies, and have created a book of original material that takes inspirational cues from the under-appreciated work of John Carter and Bobby Bradford (two of their compositions are part of the group’s repertoire). Vandermark and Wooley have worked together to create an organic combination of the jazz tradition, free improvisation, and modern composition, and have then placed it into the raw and intimate context of this duo.

On June 22nd, 2014 they recorded an album that combined their performance at Okka Fest 6 in Milwaukee with a studio session the following day. Entitled, East By Northwest, the record was released in December of that year as a co-production between their two independent labels, Pleasure of the Text Records (Wooley) and Audiographic Records (Vandermark). In January 2014, the duo goes back on the road in the United States for their second tour together, and they will again join creative forces in September with the start of a brand new quartet which will include Steve Heather on drums and Jasper Stadhouders on guitar and bass for a tour of Europe.