Editing Ken Vandermark (section)

==Biography==
=== Boston and Montreal ===
[[File:Ken Vandermark 14Dec2008 Lviv.jpg|thumb|right|At "Sonore" concert, [[Lviv]], Dec 14, 2008]]
[[File:Ken Vandermark 05N2767.jpg|right|thumb|Ken Vandermark, [[Moers Festival|mœrs festival]], 2010]]
Vandermark grew up in Massachusetts, graduating from [[Natick High School]]. His father, Stu Vandermark, was the Boston correspondent for ''[[Cadence Magazine]]'' and currently is a noted essayist on jazz, primarily concerned with improvisation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/61453139/Ken-Burns-Essay|title=Ken Burns Essay &#124; Jazz &#124; Jazz Music|website=Scribd.com|access-date=January 27, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/28911658/Recording-Jazz-Problems-Essay|title=Recording Jazz Problems Essay &#124; Jazz &#124; Gramophone Record|website=Scribd.com|access-date=January 27, 2020}}</ref>

Vandermark led a jazz trio, the Fourth Stream, in Montreal while he was an undergraduate at [[McGill University]]. After meeting [[Michael Snow]] at a gig, not recognizing the filmmaker as a trumpter, Vandermark would record a duo record with Snow (Duol!) in 2012. He graduated in 1986 with a degree in English but focusing on cinema. After graduation, he led or co-led groups (including Lombard Street and [[Mr. Furious]]) in Boston.

Compositions/arrangements for the Boston-based groups set the groundwork for and predicted approaches to recordings and live performances developed in Chicago. Although a trio, Lombard Street incorporated "suite forms" characteristic of later arrangements for groups of both substantial and limited instrumentation. Vandermark's "dedication pieces" are found first in Lombard Street performances, as in the case of "The Politics of Sound," which was dedicated to the musicians in Boston-based ensembles [[Shock Exchange]], The Fringe, and the [[Joe Morris (guitarist)|Joe Morris]] Trio. Works performed by Mr. Furious, such as "Cold Coffee", include some of the most convincing early examples of Vandermark's signature free-ranging charts. Developed further in Barrage Double Trio (e.g., "Agamemnon Sleeps") this simultaneously linear and episodic perspective on arrangement broadly has been the overarching architecture in most of his works for large-ensembles since that time.

=== Chicago ===
Vandermark has lived in Chicago since autumn 1989. Since then, he has performed or recorded with many musicians (including [[Hal Russell]], [[Paal Nilssen-Love]], [[Hamid Drake]], [[Fred Anderson (musician)|Fred Anderson]], [[David Stackenäs]], [[Paul Lytton]], [[Joe Morris (guitarist)|Joe Morris]], [[Ab Baars]], [[The Ex (band)|The Ex]], [[Mikolaj Trzaska]], [[Marcin Oles]], [[Waclaw Zimpel]], [[Axel Doerner]], [[Mats Gustafsson]], [[Bartlomiej Oles]], [[Wolter Wierbos]], [[Joe McPhee]], [[Zu (band)|Zu]], [[Peter Brötzmann]], [[Fredrik Ljungkvist]], [[Paul Lovens]], [[Lasse Marhaug]], [[Yakuza (band)|Yakuza]], [[Kevin Drumm]], and members of [[Superchunk]]). He first gained widespread attention while with the NRG Ensemble from 1992 to 1996. He was once a member of Witches and Devils and the [[Flying Luttenbachers]] and has led or co-led several groups, including DKV Trio, Free Fall, Territory Band, CINC, Sonore, the Vandermark 5, the Free Music Ensemble, School Days, the Sound in Action Trio, Steam and Powerhouse Sound.

The ''Joe Harriott Project'', a brief celebration of Harriott in 1998 in the Chicago area, consisted of Ken Vandermark (reeds), [[Jeb Bishop]] (trombone), [[Kent Kessler]] (bass), and [[Tim Mulvenna]] (drums). The band played the music of [[Joe Harriott]], transcribed and arranged by Vandermark.

In 2002 Vandermark recorded ''Furniture Music'', his first released performances as an unaccompanied soloist.

After several years of Vandermark 5 performances of his arrangements of works by [[Sonny Rollins]], [[Joe McPhee]], [[Cecil Taylor]], and others, Vandermark in 2005 announced, "Though I have learned a great deal by rearranging some of my favorite composers' work for the Vandermark 5, it's time to leave that process behind and focus more completely on my own ideas."

Vandermark is the subject of ''Musician'' (2007), one of a series of Daniel Kraus video documentaries on contemporary occupations.