DKV Trio *Night One*

It’s that time of year — DKV Trio is back for their annual two night run here at Elastic Arts! This fantastic pairing of journeymen Chicago improvisers found its roots in the mid-1990’s and has worked actively since that time. It has become an important tradition for this group to finish out the year for us here at Elastic, so we hope you can join us for one or both of these shows.
Ken Vandermark - reeds
Kent Kessler - bass
Hamid Drake - drums
7:45 PM DOORS / 8:30 PM CONCERT

$25 Single Day / $40 Two Day Ticket

ARTIST BIO
The DKV Trio is one of the most exciting ensembles working in contemporary improvised music.  Featuring Hamid Drake (drums), Kent Kessler (bass), and Ken Vandermark, the band has been active since the mid 1990s and has released twelve recordings.  

Their 2014 five CD box set, Sound in Motion in Sound, was reviewed by the Free Jazz Collective as follows, "They are tighter, more explosive, and ingenious than ever. Imagine every DKV Trio’s signature element coming together in a remarkably dazzling, fiery display of musical prowess. There’s an almost palpable quality to the way that the musicians meld their ideas and approaches together. There’s groove propelled by Drake’s funky, loose drumming, there’s melody in the bass lines, there’s dissonance and conflict in Vandermark’s fluid, mercurial playing.

This is a great recording by an unmistakable, intense group of musicians with a sound and feeling of their own. That much is clear now. I would even dare to call this album their best to date. Inspired, full of energy, harmonically, rhythmically, and even melodically rich, capable of wonderfully recreating the joy of listening to DKV Trio live."  5 stars

2017-2019 were exceptional years for the band.  In 2017 they released a new album, called Latitude 41.88, on the label Not Two (A review of this recording in the December 20, 2018, Chicago Reader stated, "Not only can DKV Trio instantly compose music that’s so memorable you’d swear you were remembering deep cuts from an old favorite album when you hear it, but each man’s growth as an instrumentalist heightens the lyricism and soul of their tunes.").  In addition, they toured in Europe and in the Midwest of the States with Joe McPhee as a guest.  Then in 2018 they were featured at the All Ears Festival in Oslo and the Open Music Festival in Forli, Italy; and in 2019 Not Two Records released a six CD box set of recordings made during the tour with DKV and Joe McPhee, entitled The Fire Each Time.

Plans are in the works for a new collection of DKV Trio material to be released and, most recently, the band was featured at the 38th edition of the Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria, on November 8, 2024:

Every December Hamid Drake, Kent Kessler, and Ken Vandermark return to Elastic Arts in Chicago to perform two nights, an annual celebration of the group’s ongoing history and its deep connection to the city’s music scene.

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