The Squid's Ear Magazine


Made to Break: Trebuchet (Trost Records)

The eighth release from Ken Vandermark's hard-hitting quartet with Austrian electronic improviser Christof Kurzmann, Netherlands bassist Jasper Stadhouders, and Chicago drummer and frequent Vandermark collaborator Tim Daisy, for 3 vigorous and extreme pieces dedicated to Shellac, Susan Sontag, and Kerry James Marshall; powerful, informed, essential.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Ken Vandermark-reeds

Christof Kurzmann-electronics

Jasper Stadhouders-bass

Tim Daisy-drums


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UPC: 9120036682573

Label: Trost Records
Catalog ID: TROST 164CD
Squidco Product Code: 25167

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Austria
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded by Bob Weston.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The new album combines again the trademarks of Made To Break: the soulful and grooving play of Ken Vandermark (one of the key musicians/composers in the current free jazz scene) on reeds with the filigran electronic distortions and loops of Christof Kurzmann, with a solid rhythm layer by the young Dutch bassist lloopp Jasper Stadhouders and drummer Tim Daisy. An unusual "jazz" record, fascinating so much the more."-Trost



"Made to Break is currently Ken Vandermark's key and most radical ensemble. Trébuchet is the eighth release of the Chicagoan-Austrian-Dutch quartet - Vandermark on reeds, fellow-Chicagoan drummer Tim Daisy, Viennese Christof Kurzmann on the ppooll software and electronics and Amsterdam-based electric bass player Jasper Stadhouders - in a span of four years. Made to Break already recorded a new, ninth album, during its recent European tour.

As on many of Vandermark's project, each of Made to Break's albums suggests a far richer artistic vision than the pure musical one. Trébuchet - titled after an ancient siege engine which used a swinging arm to throw a projectile at the enemy, offers Vandermark's response to current-day American politics, obviously, quite an angry one but less lethal than the original trebuchets, but, no doubt, an inspiring one. Vandermark's three new compositions are dedicated to three distinct, opinionated American artists, who often stood in opposition, stressing that any artistic act is and often should mark a bold and moral political stand.

The first piece, "Hydroplane", is dedicated to the seminal Chicagoan alt-rock band Shelleac, which features guitarist-vocalist-producer Steve Albini, bass player-vocalist-sound Engineer Bob Weston - who recorded many of Vandermark's project, including this one (recording, mixing and mastering in Chicago on April 2016) - and drummer-vocalist Todd Trainer. This tough, rhythmic piece does not attempt to replicate the minimalist, brutal attack of Shellac but sketches its own sense of building and varying massive rhythmic dimensions, sometimes in a manner that brings to mind Shellac's associates, the Dutch group The Ex, with whom Vandermark and Stadhouders have been collaborating in recent years. Vandermark, Daisy and Stadhouders alternate constantly between solidifying and deepening the powerful rhythmic envelope and contrasting and challenging each other's role. Kurzmann, in his turn, alternates between opposing all three with his imaginative stream of alien, noisy and abstract sounds that charge the immediate, tight interplay with a strong sense of surprise and risk taking and soloing along Vandermark like an otherworldly reed instrument.

"Contact Sheet" is dedicated to the late writer, critic, and political activist Susan Sontag (1933-2004), whose influential book On Photography (1977) dealt with the role of photography in present-day capitalist societies. This piece begins with a lyrical and emotional tone, presented by Vandermark's warm, big tenor sax. Here Kurzmann's chilly electronics serve as provocative agent, embracing Vandermark's coherent solo and the loose but solid rhythmic section of Daisy and Stadhouders with an elusive, destabilizing atmosphere.

The last piece, "Slipping Words Against Silence", is dedicated to Chicagoan Afro-American Kerry James Marshall, whose paintings are strongly influenced by his personal experiences in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles where the Black Power and Civil Rights movements protested against police brutality. This is an intense but looser piece. Vandermark plays here the clarinet but as an equal to his partners. The piece often changes courses between the fiery and muscular to the abstract and balladic. It capture the uncompromising, restless energy of Made to Break as well as the compassionate, collaborative spirit of this great quartet."-Eyal Hareuveni, The Free Jazz Collective

Also available on vinyl LP.
Get additional information at The Free Jazz Collective

Artist Biographies

"Born in Warwick, Rhode Island on September 22nd, 1964, Ken Vandermark began studying the tenor saxophone at the age of 16. Since graduating with a degree in Film and Communications from McGill University during the spring of 1986, his primary creative emphasis has been the exploration of contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. In 1989, he moved to Chicago from Boston, and has worked continuously from the early 1990's onward, both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe, recording in a large array of contexts, with many internationally renowned musicians (such as Fred Anderson, Ab Baars, Peter Brötzmann, Tim Daisy, Hamid Drake, Terrie Ex, Mats Gustafsson, Devin Hoff, Christof Kurzmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Paul Lytton, Andy Moor, Joe Morris, and Nate Wooley). His current activity includes work with Made To Break, The Resonance Ensemble, Side A, Lean Left, Fire Room, the DKV Trio, and duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy; in addition, he is the music director of the experimental Pop band, The Margots. More than half of each year is spent touring in Europe, North America, and Japan, and his concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. In addition to the tenor sax, he also plays the bass and Bb clarinet, and baritone saxophone. In 1999 he was awarded the MacArthur prize for music."

-Ken Vandermark Website (http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Christof Kurzmann (vocals, lloopp, clarinet, alto sax), is an Austrian musician, performer, composer currently living in Buenos Aires. Beginning in 1994 he started his work in the field of experimental electronic music. Since that time Christof has collaborated with some of the most significant artists working in contemporary music and improvisation- including Toto Alvarez, Martin Brandlmayr, John Butcher, Eden Carrasco, Sebi Ciurcina, Werner Dafeldecker, Kai Fagaschinski, Fernanda Farrah, Bernhard Fleischmann, Michaela Grill, Margareth Kammerer, Leonel Kaplan, Bernhard Lang, Andrea Neumann, Fernando Perales, Eva Reiter, Marina Rosenfeld, Ursula Rucked, Burkhard Stangl, Michael Thieke, and Clayton Thomas- in groups such as El Infierno Musical, The Magic I.D., and Schee. During the course of his career, Christof has performed throughout Europe, Japan, North and South Amercia. He has also been a music curator since the mid 1980's, and in 1999 founded the record label, Charhizma, which has released more than 30 cds."

-http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/ (Ken Vandermark Website)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Jasper Stadhouders (Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1989) is a guitarist and bassist based in Amsterdam. He's performed music on stage since the age of 8. He is an active member of the international improvised music circuit. He is a co-founder of the bands Cactus Truck (with John Dikeman and Onno Govaert), Stadhouders/Govaert/De Joode Trio and two duos with percussionists Dag Erik Knedal Andersen and Nicolas Field. He is also part of such diverse bands as Spinifex and Lily's Déjà Vu, next to playing countless of ad hoc improv shows. Jasper also occasionally works in the fields of dance, theatre and contemporary composed music. He has played with Han Bennink, Ab Baars, Paal Nilssen-Love, Marshall Allen, Wolter Wierbos, Noel Redding, Ken Vandermark, Jim Black, Andrew D'Angelo, Terrie Ex, Andy Moor, Peter Evans, Frank Rosaly, Dave Rempis, Roy Campbell, Michael Moore, Jeb Bishop, Peter Jacquemyn, Wally Shoup, Ingrid Laubrock, Mars Williams, Michael Vatcher, Alan Wilkinson and many more. Jasper has performed extensively in Europe and the USA, as well as in India."

-Jasper Stadhouders Website (https://jasperstadhouders.wordpress.com/about/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tim Daisy (percussion) has been an active member of Chicago' s creative music scene since moving there in 1997. He has performed, composed, recorded, and toured with many of the city's celebrated musicians and ensembles, including the Engines, KLANG, the Rempis Percussion Quartet, the Resonance Ensemble, and the Vandermark 5. In addition, Tim maintains an active composing schedule, writing for his own bands (such as Vox Arcana and Group 4-34) as well as contributing music to a number of collaborative projects- including chamber groups, jazz ensembles, dance, and film. He has had the fortunate experience to perform and record with many great improvisers both from around the world, including: Fred Anderson, Jim Baker, Jeb Bishop, Magnus Broo, Xavier Charles, James Falzone, Erik Friedlander, Per-Ake Homlander, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nate McBride, Joe McPhee, Dave Rempis, Steve Swell, Mikolaj Trzaska, Havard Wiik, Waclaw Zimpel, and Michael Zerang. Besides a regular concert schedule in Chicago, Tim has toured throughout North America and Europe, and has performed at numerous international music festivals."

-Ken Vandermark Website (http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Hydroplane (for Shellac) 19:23

2. Contact Sheet (for Susan Sontag) 18:33

3. Slipping Words Against Silence (for Kerry James Marshall) 12:26

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic Improv
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Ken Vandermark
Quartet Recordings
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Search for other titles on the label:
Trost Records.


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