# CD review: Ken Vandermark – Burning River Melting Sea 2021: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2021/04/07/cd-review-ken-vandermark-burning-river-melting-sea-2021-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2021-04-07T00:42:22+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**As I write these words in Chicago during May of 2020 and look back on the week
of activity in January that led to these recordings with István Grencsó and Róbert
Benkő, it’s hard for me to comprehend that the tour scheduled at that time would
most likely be the last series of concerts that I play in 2020. Without warning 
the world changed for everyone between those months, and it’s very hard to predict
how things will look in the future, for music and for everything else.**

My work with István began exactly two years earlier, when he invited me to collaborate
with his ensemble, the Grencsó Collective. We both composed music for the project,
performed in Hungary, and recorded the album Do Not Slam The Door for BMC Records.
I learned a lot about improvised music in Hungary during that week, particularly
the history connected to György Szabados. It was a great starting point, and I knew
that there would be more work to do with István in the future. In March of 2019 
my group Marker did a night of collaborative performances with musicians in Budapest,
and István was an important part of that evening.

Then an invitation came from Mario Steidl, director of the Saalfelden Jazz Festival,
for the Grencsó Collective to come with me as a guest to participate on the 3 Tage
Jazz 2020, which would be held in the middle of January. It was clear to all of 
us that we should take advantage of this opportunity to arrange some additional 
shows, and Mario graciously agreed to enable this. In addition to that concert, 
and with the help of Benedek Kruchió, who has been central to the success of all
the plans that have involved István and me, the Collective also played again in 
Hungary, at the BMC/Opus Jazz Club in Budapest and at the Grand Café in Szeged. 
A recording session and duo concert (which took place at Meseház, in Békéscsaba)
were also scheduled. István and I composed new music for this project and rehearsed
together in the gaps between the other performances.

The SuperSize Studio was located on the outskirts of Budapest, in Törökbálint, and
both it and the sound engineers were excellent. We recorded all the new duo pieces
and a series of trio improvisations that included Róbert Benkő on double bass; those
were performed in front of an audience brought in by the label, Hunnia Records. 
Though it was a pleasure to return to the material that the Collective performed,
working on the new compositions was really exhilarating and displayed how far the
level of communication between István and me had come. Though our collaborations
had been occasional over the two years since first meeting, the creative process
we’ve shared has kept accelerating.

The evidence of that progress is documented on this album. Both the compositions
and the improvisations, whether duo or trio, exhibit a depth of creative understanding
that was impossible on our initial encounter. This communication transcended the
music, and it transcended language as well. It’s in all we’ve shared as István and
I view the world and encounter music together, laughing in the car as we drove from
Saalfelden to Budapest with his band, across the Hungarian countryside, sitting 
in the bar outside of Meseház, eating lunch in his home with Benedek and Denise (
István’s wife). This shared enthusiasm for music, art, and life is projected into
plans we’ve made to put a quartet project together that would expand this new duo
material. Originally the idea was to meet in the autumn of 2020. As I sit here now
in Chicago, considering the landscape for concerts and touring as it may exist several
months in the future, I am doubtful. But I do know this – István and I will get 
together again, we will bring this new ensemble on the road, and the music we make
will be better than ever.

**Tracks**

 1.  Extracted Color 3:11
 2.  How Good It Would Be 3:56
 3.  A Question Of Rate 2:25
 4.  Letters In Any Order 1:05
 5.  Rise Lonesome 5:15
 6.  Engarian-Hunglish 2:34
 7.  Woven Paper 3:28
 8.  Like A jaguar Loves It’s Spots 5:21
 9.  Object 2020 3:49
 10. 2128 1-2 South Indiana Avenue 3:24
 11. Ode To Women 4:36
 12. Anagram Or Acronym 2:02
 13. The Table Of Togetherness 3:09
 14. Triple Braid 6:18

**Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet (Right side)**
 **István Grencsó–
tenor, alto saxophones, Bb & bass clarinet, flute (Left side)** **Róbert Benkő –
double bass**

![Burning River Melting Sea - NativeDSD Music](https://i0.wp.com/media.nativedsd.
com/storage/nativedsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/04180032/HRES2002-500x500.jpeg?
resize=640%2C640&ssl=1)

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