The DKV Trio is one of the most exciting ensembles working in contemporary improvised music. Featuring Hamid Drake (drums), Kent Kessler (bass), and Ken Vandermark, the band has been active since the mid 1990s and has released twelve recordings.
Their 2014 five CD box set, Sound in Motion in Sound, was reviewed by the Free Jazz Collective as follows, “They are tighter, more explosive, and ingenious than ever. Imagine every DKV Trio’s signature element coming together in a remarkably dazzling, fiery display of musical prowess. There’s an almost palpable quality to the way that the musicians meld their ideas and approaches together. There’s groove propelled by Drake’s funky, loose drumming, there’s melody in the bass lines, there’s dissonance and conflict in Vandermark’s fluid, mercurial playing.
This is a great recording by an unmistakable, intense group of musicians with a sound and feeling of their own. That much is clear now. I would even dare to call this album their best to date. Inspired, full of energy, harmonically, rhythmically, and even melodically rich, capable of wonderfully recreating the joy of listening to DKV Trio live.” 5 stars
2017 and 2018 were exceptional years for the band. In 2017 they released a new album, called Latitude 41.88, on the label Not Two (A review of this recording in the December 20, 2018, Chicago Reader stated, “Not only can DKV Trio instantly compose music that’s so memorable you’d swear you were remembering deep cuts from an old favorite album when you hear it, but each man’s growth as an instrumentalist heightens the lyricism and soul of their tunes.”). In addition, they toured in Europe and in the Midwest of the States with Joe McPhee as a guest. Then in 2018 they were featured at the All Ears Festival in Oslo and the Open Music Festival in Forli, Italy.
In January of 2019 Not Two Records will release a six CD boxset of recordings made during the concerts with DKV and Joe McPhee, called The Fire Each Time. Later in the year they plan to tour the West Coast of the United States as a trio, and to tour again in Europe.
