eMusic Review 0
With its precise balance of compositional rigor and improvisational fire, it's no wonder that the Vandermark 5 has long been the flagship outfit for Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark. He's had countless bands and projects over the years, many of them exploring specific interests — from the noisy rock and funk of Powerhouse Sound to the all-reeds trio Sonore — but the V5 has outlived them all for numerous reasons, chief among those being versatility.
Annular Gift is the quintet's first live recording, beautifully capturing the band on stage at Krakow, Poland's Alchemia in March of 2009, where the leader's highly episodic tunes masterfully direct and propel heady spells of improvisation. On the 20-minute opener "Spiel (for Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil)," for example, new ideas and events come fast and furious; we get an extroverted amplified cello solo from Fred Lonberg-Holm, and searing tenor and alto saxophone breakdowns from, respectively, the leader and Dave Rempis. Then the combo halts, veering into a hushed long tone din that witnesses terse, percussive phrases from Vandermark building in intensity, volume and frequency, only to welcome upper register cries from Rempis. Calm returns with an imploring, lyric clarinet solo from Vandermark among walking pizzicato… read more »
