To label a new Ken Vandermark recording a significant addition to his discography is a tough claim to make. A great musician, an inventive composer, a huge music fan, Vandermark is so generous of spirit that his projects are as often significant additions to the catalogues of others. Witness the attention he brought to the under-recognized Joe Harriott with his record of Harriott's contributions, or the large, dynamic group he built around Peter Brötzmann. Vandermark has many strengths, not the least of which is his paying of homage.
So Collide may just be another entry in his perhaps too big but often impressive recording career. But for his fellow Chicago saxophonist Fred Anderson, the disc is landmark. Vandermark created the American/European big band seven years ago, with the intention of including Anderson in the lineup. That didn't happen at the time, but came to pass in 2006 in Chicago's newly created Millennium Park. The 53-minute suite marks is significant as an Anderson record in several ways. Rarely has he worked with electronics, or with big bands, or with European players. Vandermark created the opportunity for all of that to happen, and put his elder player squarely in the center.
The piece was written - as Vandermark explains in the lengthy liner notes - to spotlight Anderson. And while he, of course, sounds great as always, it's interesting to hear the flexibility with which he approached the project. Anderson is something of a creature of comfort, often playing with the same handful of people and generally in the South Side club he owns. But with the expanse of sonic possibility Territory represents behind him, he holds back, following rather than leading, perhaps more than ever before on record. He lets loose at times, most certainly, but he also sees the drama of each opportunity. When the band drops out behind him, he doesn't erupt to keep the energy level on high (as he well could have), but plays to the silence. When the first thing to join back in is Lasse Marhaug's electronics, it's a setting for Anderson never before heard. And with trumpeter Axel Dörner, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionists Paul Lytton and Paul Nilssen-Love in the band, there are plenty of such opportunities.
Ultimately, Collide is a living tribute to Anderson, for whom tributaries are finally beginning to flow. And, if secondarily, it's a testament to Vandermark, the rare opportunist who doesn't act out of ego.
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