Noise of Our Time VWCR: Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier, Tom Rainey

• 1 Checkpoint 05:03
• 2 Track and Field 06:39
• 3 Sparks 03:44
• 4 The Space Between the Teeth 06:12
• 5 Tag 04:32
• 6 Songs of Innocence 04:17
• 7 VWCR 04:00
• 8 Truth Through Mass Individuation 04:03
• 9 Simple Cut 05:41
• Total Runtime 44:11

Info for Noise of Our Time

It was only during Ken Vandermark's residency at the Jazz club The Stone in January 2016 that Vandermark found himself in the same vicinity as Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier and Tom Rainey. A year later they went into the studio with nine compositions – three each by Courvoisier, Vandermark and Wooley.

These four musicians have well-documented, distinct personalities which, in this context, results in performances full of surprises, rich contrasts and shared responsibilities. The music sounds thoughtful, but never over-wrought. They play by intuition, yet retain a vivid complexity. Their composing is transparent and unclichéd; their improvising provided with a remarkable coherence and openness. And perhaps it is exactly this – a fresh collective unity that keeps their respective personalities and idiosyncrasies intact – that brings them success in this bold and collaborative performance. Art needs to pique and renew your interest, take you on inspiring and surprising journeys and sometimes even confront your own biases. Creating, not reviving as a way to evolve and to keep going forward in all directions.

Ken Vandermark, saxophone, clarinet
Nate Wooley, trumpet
Sylvie Courvoisier, piano
Tom Rainey, drums

Recorded August 17, 2017, at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, New York, USA
Recorded by Ryan Streber
Mixed April 13, 2018, and mastered June 20, 2018, by Ryan Streber
Produced Patrik Landolt

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VWCR Quartet
The members of this supergroup hardly need an introduction here on FJB. Vandermark on sax and clarinet, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Sylvie Courvoisier on Piano and Tom Rainey on the drums.

Vandermark played with Wooley, Courvoisier and Rainey on the great Momentum 1: Stone release, in different settings and I’m happy to see them come together with their own album. We get 9 tunes 3-6 minutes long, which is kind of unusual for a Vandermark collaboration which often have extended performances with long improvised sections combined with composed ideas that are bent inwards, out, broken down and put back together.

This album contains no booklet.