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THERE’S AN ASTONISHING TWO-AND-A-
HALF MINUTE sequence at the start of the 2007
Daniel Kraus documentary Musician, the unglamorous
cinéma vérité portrait of the everyday reality
of reedist Ken Vandermark that shows the discipline
and drudgery required to eke out an existence
playing uncompromising music. Wedged
into a closet-like office, Vandermark checks phone
messages, fine tunes details for gig posters,
negotiates fees for a weekend performance, pencils
in appointments on a heavily marked-up wall
calendar, asks if he can crash with some friends
on an upcoming trip, and tries to schedule some
time with his wife. The montage is even more
stressful and harried than that description sounds.
“I would’ve stopped playing a long time ago if I had to deal with the
stuff he does,” said multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, a long-time collaborator
of Vandermark, in reference to that scene. “When we’re out
on the road he’s always off on his cell phone or computer looking for
the next gig.”
There’s no question that part of Vandermark’s international reputation
stems from his tenacity and ability to organize and motivate. Beginning
in the early ’90s, when his first Chicago band began attracting attention,
he’s never waited for the phone to ring; he’s always made things happen
on his own. His example was replicated time and time again in Chicago,
and a once-moribund free-jazz scene has experienced some of its most
fruitful and creative years in the wake of Vandermark. When he was
awarded a prestigious and generous MacArthur Fellowship in 1999,
some naysayers complained that he got the award for those extramusical
efforts. But a full decade later his work speaks for itself.
Vandermark has established his place as one of the most prolific and
daring figures in improvised music, excelling in totally improvised settings,
leading ambitious large ensembles and hammering away with his
long-time Chicago-based outfit the Vandermark 5, among numerous
other contexts.
Vandermark, who turned 44 last September, ranks as one of
America’s best-known and celebrated free-jazz musicians. Yet during a
recent conversation in the Chicago home he shares with his wife, Ellen
Major, and a couple of dogs—just days before he’s to leave for Europe
for a month of concerts with the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and
Vandermark 5—he makes it clear that every day is a struggle, and that
the passage in Musician accurately reflects how much energy he must
expend on the business end of his career.
“A lot of the people I work with, unfortunately, work as hard on the
business side as the music itself,” he said. “I don’t think that’s going to
change. The biggest issue I’ve got now is time, and having enough of it to
work on the music the way I need to, and to also make sure the work’s
coming in. We’re all freelancers and we’re hoping that people are going to
remain interested in what we’re doing, but you have to create the work.”
The rapidly changing music business has presented all musicians
with a tall pile of challenges, and while it may be easier for jazz
artists to ignore them and try to carry on as usual, Vandermark has
thought hard about the disappearance of record stores, the ascent of
downloading (much of it illegal) and the debilitating impact the tanking
48 DOWNBEAT June 2009