site.btaUS Saxophonist Ken Vandermark, Norwegian Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love to Perform in Sofia on April 17

American saxophonist Ken Vandermark and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love will perform in Sofia on April 17 at the National Palace of Culture. The musicians will take the stage in a special quintet with the Svetlost trio, reported Alarma Punk Jazz.

Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love will be in the Balkans for a whole week due to a joint album that they are recording with the Svetlost band from the Republic of North Macedonia. The formation includes Ninoslav Spirovski (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Kristijan Novkovski (drums) and Deni Omeragic (double bass, bass guitar, electronics).

Ken Vandermark is an American saxophonist, clarinetist, composer of avant-garde music and improviser. Born in Boston, he has lived in Chicago since 1989, where he founded the music cooperative Catalytic Sound (2012) and the label Audiographic Records (2014). He has toured North America, Europe, Japan, Ethiopia, and Latin America several times, and among the names he has played and recorded with are Fred Anderson, Masahiko Sato, Ab Baars, Joe Morris, Akira Sakata, Peter Brötzman, Eddie Prevost, Mette Rasmussen, Chris Davis, Ikue Mori, Jasper Stadhouders, Chad Taylor, Paal Nilssen-Love, Mats Gustafsson, and others. Among his main formations are Vandermark 5, The DKV Trio, and Left Lean.

The Bulgarian audience has so far had two opportunities to see Paal Nilssen-Love live - in 2012 with The Thing and at the beginning of this year, for the 80th anniversary of saxophonist Akira Sakata. He has participated in recordings and tours with saxophonists Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson, trio The Thing, in a duo with Arto Lindsay, the supergroup Arashi with Akira Sakata. He worked with Peter Brötzmann, and was involved in the groups Atomic, Scortch Trio and Zu. One of his most important adventures in contemporary avant-garde music is the Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit formation, which left no music territories unexplored,  from new Brazilian funk to new Japanese noise and Ethiopian urban folklore, noted Alarma Punk Jazz.