Joe McPhee is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami,Florida,a player of tenor,alto,and soprano saxophone,the trumpet,flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie,New York,and is most notable for his free jazz work done from the late 1960s to the present day.
Jeb Bishop is an American jazz trombone player.
Kent Kessler is an American jazz double-bassist.
Vintage Duets is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with drummer Steve McCall.
Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994.
Fred Anderson / DKV Trio is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with the DKV Trio,composed of drummer Hamid Drake,bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. The album was recorded in 1996 and released on Okka Disk. The DKV Trio formed in the summer of 1994 and started performing at Anderson's Velvet Lounge very early in their career. Those meetings led to the idea of doing a record with Fred. "Black Woman",a classic Anderson composition that appears on several of his other recordings,is a tenor sax duet.
Deep Telling is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris with the DKV Trio recorded in 1998 and released on Okka Disk. The DKV Trio is a band composed of drummer Hamid Drake,bassist Kent Kessler,and saxophonist Ken Vandermark. The whole quartet plays together only on three collective improvisations,on the other five tracks the musicians split off into a variety of duo and trio lineups.
Caffeine is the eponymous debut album by the free improvisation trio consisting of Jim Baker on piano,Steve Hunt on percussion and Ken Vandermark on reeds. It was recorded in 1993 and released on Okka Disk. By the time of recording,Vandermark and Hunt were members of the NRG Ensemble.
International Front is an album by American jazz reedist Ken Vandermark,which was recorded in 1994 and released on Okka Disk. He leads the Steelwool Trio with longtime partner bassist Kent Kessler and Boston drummer Curt Newton.
Blow Horn is an album by FJF,a quartet formed by Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and American reedist Ken Vandermark with the Chicago's NRG Ensemble rhythm section of bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Steve Hunt. It was recorded in 1995 and released on Okka Disk.
Discography for jazz reedist Ken Vandermark. The year indicates when the album was first released.
Baraka is an album by the DKV Trio,composed of drummer Hamid Drake,bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. It was recorded in 1997 and released on Okka Disk.
Live in Wels &Chicago,1998 is a double album by the DKV Trio,composed of drummer Hamid Drake,bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. The first CD was recorded live at the "Music Unlimited 98" Festival in Wels,while the second was recorded a few days later at the Velvet Lounge,the Chicago club owned by saxophonist Fred Anderson. The album was released on Okka Disk. All the music is improvised but the first disc is a six pieces suite based on Don Cherry's "Complete Communion'".
The Brass City is an album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee with trombonist Jeb Bishop recorded in 1997 and first released on the Okka Disk label.
Emancipation Proclamation:A Real Statement of Freedom is an album by percussionist Hamid Drake and multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee recorded in 1999 and first released on the Okka Disk label.
Unity Variations is an album by British jazz saxophonist Evan Parker and German pianist Georg Gräwe,which was recorded in 1998 during the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music and released on Okka Disk. Before this live performance,they had played in duo just once before at the 1991 October Meeting at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam.
Jeb Bishop is primarily known as an improvisational jazz trombonist. However he occasionally plays other instruments on both jazz and rock recordings as noted.
Live at the Empty Bottle is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann,drummer Hamid Drake,and bassist Kent Kessler. It was recorded on July 22,1996,at The Empty Bottle in Chicago,and was released in 1999 by Okka Disk as a limited-edition CD.
The Chicago Octet/Tentet is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann on which he is joined by two large ensembles known as the Chicago Octet and Tentet. Six tracks were recorded live at The Empty Bottle in Chicago on January 29,1997,and September 17,1997,while the remaining six tracks were recorded at AirWave Studio in Chicago on September 16,1997. The album was released in 1998 as a limited-edition three-CD set by the Okka Disk label,and,in addition to Brötzmann,features saxophonists Mats Gustafsson,Joe McPhee,Ken Vandermark,and Mars Williams,trombonist Jeb Bishop,cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm,double bassist Kent Kessler,and drummers Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang.
American Landscapes,volumes 1 and 2,is a pair of live albums by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet,led by saxophonist Brötzmann,and featuring an ten-piece ensemble. Documenting performances of two large-scale works,they were recorded on May 28,2006,at Le Weekend in the Tolbooth at Stirling,Scotland,and were released on CD in 2007 by Okka Disk. On the albums,Brötzmann is joined by saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark,trumpeter and saxophonist Joe McPhee,trombonist Johannes Bauer,tubist Per-Ake Holmlander,cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm,double bassists Kent Kessler and William Parker,and drummers Paal Nilssen-Love and Michael Zerang.
