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As long as I’ve known Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark—more than two decades now—he’s always been extremely candid about the importance Poughkeepsie multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee has had on his own work. When he was just 17, Vandermark heard McPhee’s stunning 1977 solo album, Tenor, and was deeply moved. When McPhee—who performs Sunday in a duo with bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten during the closing night of this year’s Umbrella Music Festival—first performed in Chicago in February 1996, Vandermark had the chance to make a recording with his idol, a memory he relates in the liner notes for his recent Impressions of Po Music (Okka Disc), a fantastic nonet effort devoted to interpreting McPhee’s music.
Impressions of Po Music by Ken Vandermark’s Topology Nonet featuring Joe McPhee
