Thursday 16 | 8.30pm | £12 | Book online

Vandermark 5

Led by Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone and Bb clarinet) the Quintet have been labelled 'a modern-day band for the jazz ages' (Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD)...

Each of the band’s current members –Tim Daisy (drums), Kent Kessler (acoustic bass), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello and electronics), Dave Rempis (alto and tenor saxophone) – have years of performance experience working with a wide variety of music.

This, coupled with the range of instrumentation and stylistic potential held by the ensemble, allows Vandermark to compose material that runs the gamut of musical possibilities incorporating elements of jazz, contemporary, funk and rock into the group’s music.

Even so, the Quintet’s main focus is improvisation. Each piece is arranged to allow ample room for the members to interpret and reinterpret the writing and in the spirit of the great bands scattered throughout the history of jazz, the Vandermark 5 has always concentrated on live performance as the means to hone its skills and develop its concepts.

Atomic

From Scandinavia, reviewers have described Atomic's playing as 'an explosive blend of American free-jazz with European characteristics' – or as the group say, 'part academic lecture, part a fun night out on the town'.

While they make no secret of their admiration for leading American jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, Archie Shepp, Charles Mingus and George Russell, the music of Atomic is also mixed with an equal love of European free jazz and improvised music.

With their latest release 'Retrograde', Atomic is for those who like their jazz with both content and a sense of exhilaration.

Fredrik Ljungkvist (reeds), Magnus Broo (trumpet), Håvard Wiik (piano), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums).