Tim Daisy : Projects

FRAME QUARTET

Ken Vandermark's newest ensemble presents his most recent strategies for integrating composition and improvisation in a contemporary music context. The lineup features long-time associates Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & electronics), Nate McBride (acoustic & electric bass), and Tim Daisy (drums & percussion). Although this is the first time that these four musicians have worked as an ensemble, all have played with Ken in other formats, performing concerts in North America and Europe for many years. Collaborations of particular note include the Vandermark 5 (with Tim Daisy and Fred Lonberg-Holm), and the Free Music Ensemble and Powerhouse Sound (with Nate McBride). The Frame Quartet began its work together in January of 2007 on a tour of Europe. Since then they have been performing frequently in their hometown, Chicago, developing new material together.

The compositions Ken has written for this group move even further away from the jazz tradition than his previous bands. Utilizing ideas from adventurous music in other fields, such as underground rock and contemporary composition, and sources like Ennio Morricone's approach to film scoring, Ken has created a vehicle of expression that sounds unlike any other ensemble performing today. In addition, certain organizational concepts have been taken from the linear construction methods found in cinema; this has been done as a means to redirect the improvising, shifting it away from the development found in most contemporary music environments. All of the predetermined elements are interfaced with a variety of improvisational tactics, and the pieces can be spontaneously reformatted at each performance. In a sense, the structure of the music is also improvised by the band, and with systems that can't always be predicted by the members of the group. The Frame Quartet is currently preparing for its second European Tour, which takes place in May of 2008, and will record their first album when they return to Chicago at the end of that month.