Ken Vandermark is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist.
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Kent Kessler is an American jazz double-bassist.
Paul Lytton is an English free jazz and free improvising percussionist.
Vintage Duets is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with drummer Steve McCall.
Birdhouse is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson, released in 1996 on Okka Disk.
Destiny is an album by American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell with saxophonist Fred Anderson and drummer Hamid Drake recorded in the 1994 "Women of the New Jazz" festival at Chicago’s HotHouse and released on Okka Disk.
Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994.
Live at the Velvet Lounge is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with German free jazz bassist Peter Kowald and long-time collaborator drummer Hamid Drake. The record documents a June 1998 performance at the Chicago club owned by Anderson, the Velvet Lounge, and was released on the Okka Disk 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.
Utility Hitter is an album by American jazz reedist Ken Vandermark, which was recorded in 1995 and released on the Quinnah label. He leads the Barrage Double Trio, composed of one bass-drums-reeds trio from Boston and other from Chicago. The whole band plays six Vandermark compositions, the remaining five tracks are short improvisations: one for each of the trios and three duos.
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.
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.
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'".
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.
Stone/Water is a live album by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, led by saxophonist Brötzmann, and featuring a 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.
