A large ensemble, all star collection of musicians led by visiting artist, Jeff Albert (trombone), performs Mars Williams’ The Devils Whistle, with Tim Daisy (drums), Ben Lamar Gay (cornet), Anton Hatwich (bass), John Irabagon (saxophones), Lia Kohl (cello), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Steve Marquette (guitar), Dave Rempis (saxophones), Macie Stewart (violin), Ken Vandermark (reeds), and Michael Zerang (drums). .

Musicians who worked with Mars Williams in the NRG Ensemble, founded by Hal Russell, will perform two sets of compositions Mars wrote for the band. The lineup includes Steve Hunt (drums), Kent Kessler (bass), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Dave Rempis (saxophones), Brian Sandstrom (multiple instruments), and Ken Vandermark (reeds).

7pm: Film screening of Daniel Kraus’ Work Series #2: Musician

58 mins, 2007

Daniel Krauss’ film, Musician, works with a similar methodology as Frederick Wiseman—no voice overs, no talking heads—letting the camera capture events as they unfold in real time. Though Ken Vandermark is at the center of the action, he is not the subject of the film. Instead, the subject is the work it takes for every musician, whatever genre, to get their material onstage and is a one-of-a-kind document of this process.

8pm: Mabel Kwan + Ken Vandermark Duo

Mabel Kwan and Ken Vandermark have worked together in various formats, including projects with the new music group Ensemble Dal Niente featuring new work by Roscoe Mitchell, Last Trane to Clover Five (2021), and performances at Big Ears Festival (2022). Since then they have played together in various improvised music groups; this will be their first concert as a duo.

9:15pm: Panel Discussion and Artist Talk

Vandermark’s resoluteness in managing innumerable projects function as a springboard to investigate and understand the complexities of establishing and maintaining a creative life in music. Panel members represent different aspects of Ken’s sprawling work as musician, label owner (Audiographic Records since 2014), Director of the Catalytic Sound musician cooperative (since 2012), concert presenter (Catalytic Sound Festival since 2020), and writer.

Ken Vandermark – musician
Mabel Kwan – musician
Eric Drott – Professor at UT Butler School of Music and author of Streaming Music, Streaming Capital (Duke Press)
Pedro Moreno – Founder of Epistrophy Arts, a grass-roots organization dedicated to presenting the finest in improvised music and adventurous jazz in Austin Texas since 1998.

[photo of Ken Vandermark by Andy Moor]

Ken Vandermark leads a 2-hour open rehearsal with a quartet of Texas musicians (Kory Cook: drumset, San Antonio; Matthew Frerck: double bass, Denton; Stefan González: vibraphone, Denton; Jonathan Horne: electric guitar, Austin) workshopping music to be performed this evening. Ample time will be left for audience questions about Vandermark’s working process as composer, improvisor, and bandleader.

[photo by Cristina Marx]

Set 1: Mabel Kwan + Juan García duo

First-time free improvisations between two acclaimed artists investigating the peripheries of contemporary classical, improvised, and experimental music.

Mabel Kwan – piano
Juan García – double bass

Set 2: Ken Vandermark Texas Ensemble

Ken Vandermark presents new compositions exploring distinct melodic, rhythmic and architectural strategies for improvisers. Vandermark will work with Texas musicians Jonathan Horne (Austin), Matthew Frerck (Denton), Stefan González (Denton), and Kory Cook (San Antonio) in a debut collaboration.

Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet
Jonathan Horne – electric guitar
Matthew Frerck – double bass
Stefan González – vibraphone
Kory Cook – drumset

[photo of Ken Vandermark by Andy Moor]

The music of legendary musician Fred Anderson, a founding member of the AACM and a mentor for numerous musicians, is rarely heard outside of Chicago. Vandermark was fortunate enough to work with Anderson on a regular basis, record an album of his compositions with the DKV Trio, as well as feature Anderson as a guest soloist on the Territory Band album, Collide (2007). Vandermark will present a selection of Fred Anderson’s pieces in a trio with North Texas musicians Stefan González and Matthew Frerck.

The trio will also perform selections of music from Dallas’ pioneering trumpeter, artist and educator Dennis González. González established the Dallas Association for Avant-Garde and Neo Impressionistic Music (daagnim) in the late 1970s, at the suggestion of Anthony Braxton and Art Lande. The daagnim organization, which functioned both as a group of musicians and as a record label, was based on and named after Chicago’s AACM. Dennis’ youngest child, drummer and vibraphonist Stefan González, will present selections of their father’s music heavily influenced by his work with Chicago colleagues Malachi Favors and Alvin Fielder (via Mississippi), among others.

Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet
Matthew Frerck – double bass
Stefan González – drumset

[photo of Fred Anderson by Donald Bromley, photo of Dennis González courtesy of Stefan González’s Facebook page]

Ten Pounds to the Sound presents . . .

Ken Vandermark/Mabel Kwan
&
Chris Cogburn/David Dove/Juan Garcia

Ken Vandermark (Chicago) – saxophones, clarinets
Mabel Kwan (Chicago) – piano

Chris Cogburn (Mexico City, Austin) – percussion, electronics
David Dove (Houston) – trombone
Juan García (Houston) – double bass

$10-$20 – Pay what you can.

Ken Vandermark and Mabel Kwan are coming to Houston fresh off their No Idea residency in Austin, where they will have played there first-ever duo performance.

Chris Cogburn, David Dove, and Juan Garcia reunite for their first trio in more than 20 years. In 2002, they embarked on the legendary “Houston Tour”, performing at 20 HISD high schools in 10 days.

Artists Links:
https://kenvandermark.com/
https://www.3arts.org/artist/mabel-kwan/
https://noideafestival.com
https://daviddove.framer.website/

[photo of Ken Vandermark by John Sharpe, photo of Mabel Kwan unknown]

First concert by this new lineup of improvisers put together by keyboardist, Erez Dessel, with Chris Corsano (drums), Mai Sugimoto (reeds), and Ken Vandermark (reeds).

Edition XL is a new ensemble built on the foundation of Ken Vandermark’s critically acclaimed band, Edition Redux (with Erez Dessel: keyboards, Lily Finnegan: drums, Beth McDonald: tuba/electonics); which has toured both the States and Europe two times, was a featured group on the Festival Internacional Jazz Madrid and Music Unlimited 38 festival in Wels, Austria during November of 2024; and has released two albums: Better A Rook Than A Pawn (2023) and Broadcast Transformer (2025), both on Audiographic Records.

This group adds Josh Berman (cornet) and Nick Macri (acoustic & electric bass) to the fold, and is much more than an expanded version of the quartet. Vandermark has created a completely new system for his compositions to perform with this ensemble, not only modular but also with the ability to superimpose parts on top of each other. This has created the possibility for each piece to stand alone, be collaged and/or stacked, giving an extraordinary number of permutations for the written material. In addition, all the musicians involved have extensive history together as improvisers, working together in many different configurations through the years. All that experience and knowledge is brought to the table with Edition XL. Rehearsals began in February to prepare for this weekend residency at the legendary Green Mill of Chicago, an opportunity that Vandermark and the entire group takes with the highest regard- sure to be a very memorable two nights of music!

Edition XL is a new ensemble built on the foundation of Ken Vandermark’s critically acclaimed band, Edition Redux (with Erez Dessel: keyboards, Lily Finnegan: drums, Beth McDonald: tuba/electonics); which has toured both the States and Europe two times, was a featured group on the Festival Internacional Jazz Madrid and Music Unlimited 38 festival in Wels, Austria during November of 2024; and has released two albums: Better A Rook Than A Pawn (2023) and Broadcast Transformer (2025), both on Audiographic Records.

This group adds Josh Berman (cornet) and Nick Macri (acoustic & electric bass) to the fold, and is much more than an expanded version of the quartet. Vandermark has created a completely new system for his compositions to perform with this ensemble, not only modular but also with the ability to superimpose parts on top of each other. This has created the possibility for each piece to stand alone, be collaged and/or stacked, giving an extraordinary number of permutations for the written material. In addition, all the musicians involved have extensive history together as improvisers, working together in many different configurations through the years. All that experience and knowledge is brought to the table with Edition XL. Rehearsals began in February to prepare for this weekend residency at the legendary Green Mill of Chicago, an opportunity that Vandermark and the entire group takes with the highest regard- sure to be a very memorable two nights of music!