Search - Ken Vandermark, Barry Guy, Mark Sanders :: Fox Fire

Live trio, hot to the touch

J. GARRATT | 12/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of those Ken Vandermark projects that basically frees up him and some friends to run around, make noise, and feed off of one another. An album like this runs in a looser manner than any given Vandermark 5 albums since the idea of composition becomes even more abstract.



So is it any good? Yes. The theory holds that jazz musicians have a better time feeding off one another on stage than they do in a studio. If you have seen Ken Vandermark play with any variety of his groups, you know that the euphoria and craziness go hand in hand as sound piles upon sound, climbing up an invisible yet all-too-real ladder.



I've corresponded with a British gentleman on an Amazon discussion thread who saw Vandermark perform with Barry Guy and Mark Sanders around the time these tracks were recorded, and he was reasonably excited to hear that they were going to be officially released. Those of who didn't have the good fortune to see it happen have the next best thing: 2 hours of sputtering, avant-garde jazz available for downloading (that way, no import price and no waiting).



Now, on to something else; I don't know anything about Barry Guy. He sounds interesting though. Leave a comment telling me where to start with Barry Guy recordings."