Ken Vandermark (solo) / Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Rainey (duo)

Ken Vandermark

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. 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.

Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Rainey

Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey have been married to each other since 2010 and playing together since 2007, working as a duo as well as within larger ensembles, where they’ve collaborated with avant-garde jazz musicians such as Tim Berne and Mary Halvorson. Though the duo initially focused on improvisational music, a 2016 tour inspired them to incorporate more composition into their work. This is evident on their third album, 2018’s Utter (Relative Pitch).

Tom Rainey was born in Pasadena, California in 1957. Since moving to New York in 1978, he has performed and or recorded with the following artists: John Abercrombie, Mose Allison, Julian Arguelles, Ray Anderson, Tim Berne, Jane Ira Bloom, Anthony Braxton, Nels Cline, Mark Feldman, Michael Formanek, Drew Gress, Barry Guy, Mark Helias, Tony Malaby, Carmen McRae, Mike Nock, Anita O’Day, Andrea Parkins,and many others. Current activities include performing and recording music with the Tom Rainey Trio as well as his quintet, Obbligato. Tom also continues working with many of the aforementioned artists.

Originally from Germany, Ingrid Laubrock is a saxophonist/composer based in Brooklyn since 2009. Laubrock is interested in exploring the borders between musical realms and creating multi-layered, dense and often evocative sound worlds. Her main projects as a leader are Anti-House, Ubatuba, and Serpentines. She has been part of several Anthony Braxton projects, including Falling River Quartet, Diamond Curtain Wall Quartet; and was one of the soloists in his latest opera Trillium J.

Laubrock’s awards include Fellowship in Jazz Composition by the Arts Foundation in 2006, the 2009 SWR German Radio Jazz Prize and the 2014 German Record Critics Quarterly Award. She won best Soprano saxophonist in the Downbeat Annual Critics Poll in 2015.

Ingrid’s BandcampTom’s BandcampIntakt Records