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.
Mats Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player.
Kent Kessler is an American jazz double-bassist.
Paul Lytton is an English free jazz and free improvising percussionist.
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.
Calling All Mothers is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their first after the death of bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1993 and released on the Quinnah label.
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.
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.
A Meeting in Chicago is an album by trumpeter/saxophonist Joe McPhee, reedist Ken Vandermark and bassist Kent Kessler, which was released in 1997 on Eighth Day Music and reissued the following year with new artwork by Okka Disk. The album documents trio, duo and solo improvisations recorded all in a single take with no rehearsal, before playing their first concert later that night at The Empty Bottle. Vandermark cites McPhee’s solo recording Tenor as a major influence.
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.
Hidden in the Stomach is the debut album by the AALY Trio + Ken Vandermark, which was recorded in 1996 and released on the Swedish Silkheart label.
Target or Flag is an album by the American jazz reedist Ken Vandermark, recorded in 1997 and released on Atavistic. It was the second recording of the Vandermark 5, which includes Mars Williams on reeds, Jeb Bishop on trombone and guitar, Kent Kessler on bass and Tim Mulvenna on drums.
Stumble is the second album by the AALY Trio + Ken Vandermark, which was recorded live at Chicago's Unity Temple in 1998 and released on Wobbly Rail, a short-lived imprint started by Merge Records/Superchunk principal Mac McCaughan. AALY Trio is a Swedish free jazz band led by saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. Originally just a guest, Vandermark became a full member of the group.
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'".
Straight Lines is an album by the American jazz reedist Ken Vandermark, recorded in 1998 and released on Atavistic. The Joe Harriott Project, a pianoless quartet with four members of the Vandermark 5, plays the music of the Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott, transcribed and arranged by Vandermark. Three tunes are from the album Free Form and four from Abstract.
Stone/Water is a live album by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, led by saxophonist Brötzmann, and featuring an ten-piece ensemble. Documenting a performance of a single 39-minute work, it was recorded on May 23, 1999, at the Festival de Musique de Actuelle Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada, and was released on CD in 2000 by Okka Disk. On the album, Brötzmann is joined by saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark, trumpeter and electronic musician Toshinori Kondo, trombonist Jeb Bishop, violinist and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, double bassists Kent Kessler and William Parker, and percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang.
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.
