The Color of Memory
| The Color of Memory | ||||
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| Studio album by Ken Vandermark & The Vandermark 5 | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Atavistic Records | |||
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Format (s) |
2 CD |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
1:20:31 |
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Studio (s) |
Semaphore Recording, Chicago |
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The Color of Memory is a jazz album from The Vandermark 5 by Ken Vandermark . The recordings made in July 2004 in the Semaphore Recording Studio in Chicago were released in 2005 on Atavistic Records .
background
The Color of Memory is the eighth album by the Vandermark 5 quintet ; since 2002 it consisted of Kent Kessler , Jeb Bishop , Tim Daisy and Dave Rempis . The seven compositions on the two CDs are all dedicated to musicians, artists and also a rock band, all of whom left their mark before they went down in history - whether in the mainstream or in an obscure way, wrote Thom Jurek. Live versions of three of the tracks on this album - "Camera (for Edward Weston)", "What Was Now (for The Volcano Suns)" and "Pieces of the Past (for Joseph H. Lewis)" - released on Alchemia - Box at NotTwo Records . It was the last album the band recorded with the later retiring trombonist Jeb Bishop.
Track list
- The Vandermark 5: The Color of Memory (Atavistic ALP166CD)
- CD 1
- That Was Now (For the Volcano Suns ) 10:38
- Suitcase (For Ray Charles , Elvin Jones and Steve Lacy ) 7:49
- Road Work (For Merce Cunningham) 6:38
- Burn Nostalgia (For Art Pepper ) 7:10
- Chance (For Nino Rota ) 10:35
- CD 2
- Vehicle (For Magnus Broo ) 8:42
- Camera (For Edward Weston ) 18:55
- Pieces of the Past (For Joseph H. Lewis ) 10:04
- All compositions are by Ken Vandermark.
reception
Thom Jurek awarded the album four stars in Allmusic and wrote that it was "a study of elegance, spatial investigation and structural restraint". The longer these band members played together, the closer they got to Vandermark's composition for them and the more they open the music from the inside out. The Color of Memory is the best and most adventurous set to date by one of the best bands to emerge from North America in the last 20 years.
Andrey Henkin, who reviewed the album in All About Jazz , believes The Color of Memory will pick up the band where Elements of Style / Exercises in Surprise (2004) left off, but with a healthy dose of the kind of Composing that Vandermark brought to the FME (Free Music Ensemble, with Nate McBride and Paal Nilssen-Love ). What drives people, Henkin continued, to either love or hate the Vandermark 5 is Vandermark's unique conglomerate of styles and composition techniques. Although one can hear why Vandermark Rahsaan likes Roland Kirk or Joe Harriott , his music is the furthest removed from these models. A free-bop honkytonk chamber ensemble is one way of expressing this.
Joe Tangari wrote in Pitchfork that the group's music came mainly from two of the most radical varieties of jazz, hard bop and free jazz , and on his eighth album the quintet was in strong form: the album was divided into wild improvisation, aggressive Textures and intensity as well as pieces that would offer a more lyrical, traditional perspective on the interplay of Vandermark's group. There are places where the band gets a little lost, the author criticizes, “where fiery play is a little too far from a focused idea, or where playing solo at the same time becomes a little too chatty, but that's not a big blow the plate. This type of jazz is about exploration and the thrill of following it, and not every path can lead to a pot of gold. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stylistic classification according to discogs
- ↑ Stylistic classification according to Allmusic
- ↑ a b Review of ThomJurek's album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved April 1, 2020.
- ↑ The Vandermark 5: The Color of Memory at Discogs
- ^ Andrey Henkin: Ken Vandermark: The Color of Memory. All About Jazz, March 16, 2006, accessed June 12, 2020 .
- ↑ Joe Tangari: Ken Vandermark: The Color of Memory. Pitchfork, February 15, 2006, accessed June 7, 2020 .