"Our records are hard to find. Don't even bother looking."
American saxophonist Ken Vandermark's sales pitch to his Leeds audience during the group's debut UK tour may lack optimism, but it's hard to deny that he has a point. Despite its absorption into successful rock albums by Primal Scream and Radiohead, free jazz remains very much a minority interest. Vandermark's trick is simply to incorporate the elements of this once revolutionary music into a colourful mélange of contrasting jazz styles, making them seem as natural and unpretentious as bebop or Dixieland.
Like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, to whom they have been favourably compared, Vandermark 5 are at home in every idiom. Shrieking atonal saxophone hollers sit side by side with smooth bop phrasing; muted trombone solos segue into Latin rhythms; and a sunny, street-side flavour permeates potentially alienating free passages. There is nothing particularly innovative about their music, but they are ridiculously well-studied. And what they lack in originality, they more than make up for in sheer, visceral energy.
Vandermark 5 tread a knife edge between chaos and control. Tautly rehearsed codas spring from the most abstract rhythmic explorations, and sudden bursts of synchronised accompaniment carry apparently disoriented soloists back out into superbly crafted ensemble sections. It's enough to make you wonder whether any of this music is actually improvised, or whether they are all just following a nightmarishly complex score.
Despite the all-acoustic line-up, there are strange, unusual sounds on offer. In Accident Happening, the desperate twittering of Jeb Bishop's trombone is echoed note for note by Tim Mulv-enna's clattering drums, and Vent features double bassist Kent Kessler slow-bowing his instrument until it sounds like a vast machine powering up to do something devastating.
It's all vastly entertaining, and the band seem genuinely surprised at having to perform three encores. "It's not like this in the States," Vandermark beams. Perhaps record sales will surprise him too.
At the Purcell Room, London, SE1, tonight. Box office: 020-7960 4242.
