DVD & Video Sun Jun 22 2008

Review of Work Series: Musician DVD

Ken Vandermark, part of an emerging avant-garde jazz canon, is a musician. In this well-edited documentary DVD in the Work series, he has a lot on his plate doing what he loves to do. This is less about him as a microcosm of jazz than it is about the challenges of playing music that isn't hugely commercially successful and dealing with the goings-on surrounding it.

This hour-long documentary follows Vandermark through private time composing new work, to rehearsal, to preparation to being on the road, and pretty much those steps in between that signifies the hustling aspect of being a touring musician. We see him packing and loading the van for stops around the world, and only once or twice do we see him nod off, which probably adds to his mystique of being one of the hardest working musicians alive today.

As for the music, there are two performances featured, which will give newcomers ideas of just where he is these days, but the focus of the movie isn't on the music per se, and that's a refreshing change from tour documentaries, taking the viewer behind the scenes into how the artist conducts business, plays with others, and deals with the grind. Enjoyable, but I doubt it's illuminating for anyone who has a friend who's a musician doing gigs in any of Chicago's small venues and is doing what they have to do to keep the music going. And despite appearing in more than 100 albums, Ken Vandermark is just that; working to keep the music coming.

The DVD is available at the Work Series online store, and is available for rent at quite a few indie rental places in this fine city.

— Troy Hunter / Comments (0)