Burn the Incline

Burn the Incline

ASIN: B00004UEH4

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Vandermark 5 leader Ken Vandermark turns up in a number of groups, but the V5 is where the busy reedist showcases his ability to lead, write, and arrange. Burn the Incline, the fourth V5 outing, features a smart mix of noirish balladry, intense freetime improvisation, and snappy bop charts, but the quintet's smart playing always manages to avoid giving listeners whiplash. Vandermark's compositions and arrangements are memorable, and he continues to grow as a player with an ever-broadening set of chops, ranging from a high-pitched squeal to a throaty honk. The band continues to grow as well, with bassist Kent Kessler stepping up to open the album, anchoring overall proceedings, and making fruitful coloristic forays on his own. For fans of Charles Mingus, Fred Anderson, and Albert Ayler, this group is an ideal find--especially as they seem to improve chronically. --Tad Hendrickson

Tracks:

Distance
The Cooler
Late Night Wait Around
Roulette
Accident Happening
In Focus
The Trouble Is
Ground

Amazon.com

Vandermark 5 leader Ken Vandermark turns up in a number of groups, but the V5 is where the busy reedist showcases his ability to lead, write, and arrange. Burn the Incline, the fourth V5 outing, features a smart mix of noirish balladry, intense freetime improvisation, and snappy bop charts, but the quintet's smart playing always manages to avoid giving listeners whiplash. Vandermark's compositions and arrangements are memorable, and he continues to grow as a player with an ever-broadening set of chops, ranging from a high-pitched squeal to a throaty honk. The band continues to grow as well, with bassist Kent Kessler stepping up to open the album, anchoring overall proceedings, and making fruitful coloristic forays on his own. For fans of Charles Mingus, Fred Anderson, and Albert Ayler, this group is an ideal find--especially as they seem to improve chronically. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

He didn't get a MacArthur foundation grant for nothing ...........2004-05-16

Vandermark has garnered a rather large audience in the indie community and I can see why. As cross-over music goes, this is the best stuff out there. If you?re looking for powerful and uncompromising jazz played by people who are involved in "the scene", the Vandermark 5 is the place to start. Ken also leads trios, quartets, duos and other formats that haven't even been revealed as of yet, but this is his most consistent touring ensemble.

As far as the actual music is concerned, here is a brief synopsis :

"Distance" and "In Focus" are the two most Mingus-like tracks on the album, complete with tempo changes and multi-part thematic sections. Cool swingin' parts alternate with chugging funk rhythms and sprightly free-bop runs. There are also a pair of film noir-esque ballad pieces in "Late Night Wait Around" and "The Trouble Is". "The Cooler" and "Roulette" are both quickly paced free-bop pieces with a nice BlueNote-era feel to them. "Accident Happening" and "Ground" round out the album with some hard core free jazz blowing complete with wicked AACM school (think Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams or Anthony Braxton) horn charts and lots of collective improv and call and response playing. All the players fit their solo style to the pieces being played, keeping it easy and mellow on the serene chamber pieces and playing with fire and aggression on the more free pieces. With a 5 piece line up that encompasses two horn players with a selection of five different saxophones / clarinets between them, a trombonist / electric guitarist (with a predilection for feedback) and an upright bassist and drummer, they have just about every sound world / genre covered.

Correcting Some Misinformation.......2002-10-18

Burn the Incline may be one of the strongest recordings of the justly touted Vandermark 5. I am a recent transplant to Chicago, and had never heard of Vandermark before arriving here. But in this city you can't get away from him...and a good thing too. The playing is strong, firey in an Albert Ayler sort of way. And Vandermark has a marvelous ear for composition...creating tunes that support his weird, out vision, and yet sound completely grounded in the blues, jazz traditions and alternative rock and punk. The support from the rest of the group is wonderful, particularly Jeb Bishop on guitar and trombone. Bishop is one of the most interesting of Vandermark's proteges.

If you find yourself interested in Vandermark's unique brand of music, I would like to suggest you also pick up Vandermark's Territory Band albums. They are not readily available in stores or on Amazon but can be obtained from the website of Okkadisc, One of Chicago's best independent labels. (They also have some marvelous recordings of Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, and probably my favorite Fred Anderson CD!)

Now to the misinformation...I am disappointed in the review by a music fan. Normally I don't comment personally on other reviews, but this person actually admits that he has never even heard the album that he is reviewing. I find this outrageous. Whatever your personal feelings about an artist, you should absolutely not review an album without listening to it. It's immoral! I would suggest that Amazon screeners think very carefully before publishing such reviews in the future.

And one other minor point of misinformation...actually, many of the MacArthur Foundation recipients have been jazz musicians, 9 of 23 total awardees Ran Blake, Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Steve Lacy, George Lewis (this year!) Max Roach, George Russell, Cecil Taylor, Ken of course...and Gunther Schuller who is at least peripherally involved in jazz. This in no way takes away from the achievements of Vandermark, but I thought it was important to mention that so many of the grants have gone to people in the jazz field and especially from the avant-garde.

V5 are unique.......2002-06-22

I really like how these guys toss in some fuzz electric guitar in the mix, they groove for sure, then all of the sudden they are swinging and getting a free feeling.... check these guys out. And check out DKV trio also, never mind what the other review says... If fact, check out anything that Ken Vandermark is involved in. I just saw the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet a week ago and it blew my head off...

Ken does it again..........2002-01-11

I would ignore the "disappointed" review. Ken Vandermark is, I believe, only the 3rd jazz player to get a MacArthur grant, preceded by two free jazz giants, Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton. Clearly these large grants (over $300 000 I think) are not given out to shoddy players as "disappointed" seems to suggest KV is. I have met him, and seen him play live twice, once with his unit "steam" (very compelling performance) and once in a very unusual setting playing a nearly 30 minute ferocious and totally amazing duet on tenor with Fred Van Hove on pipe organ in a large hall behind and above (ie. invisible to)the audience (at a noise festival in London Canada). He is a very serious dude and totally committed to his music.

To get back to burn the incline, this is 5 star material without a question. Compositionally and technically amazing as well as in his choice of instrumentation. I really wonder if "disappointed" actually knows enough about free jazz (or perhaps jazz in general)to be competently reviewing it? Besides it is even stretching it a bit to call this record free jazz. It has elements of free jazz in it, but interspersed with his own take on different forms of more traditional jazz as well. I would recommend this as a good place to start in KV's prolific output and go from there, if you are truly interested in modern jazz.

Disappointed.......2001-05-16

Well, to be honest, I haven't heard this one, but let me tell you a story. I saw the V5 at the end of my junior year in high school, and I thought they were amazing. I spoke about them with another musician, a well-known professional, and he seemed kind of unenthused about the group. Then I went to see another group of Vandermark's (the DKV trio, with the same bassist), and I was stunned. Vandermark was so HORRIBLE! His playing was a pentatonic scale interspersed with squeaks and squawks over a rock beat. His rhythms were totally uninteresting, and if he's heard any bebop in his life, he hid it very well. (The drummer, Hamid Drake, though, is the real deal and you would do well to check him out). I was offended that he had got a MacArthur Fellowship. It really goes to show that there are good 'free' players, and some who don't know what they're doing. I spoke with my musician friend some time later, and he said, yes, there really aren't any redeeming qualities in his playing. So pick up some Cecil Taylor, some Matthew Shipp, some Paul Smoker, but think twice about this one. Or, take a listen. Don't take my word for it.

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