Chicago saxophonist/composer Ken Vandermark and New York trumpet player Nate Wooley had been operating in each other’s orbits for several years- having worked together with Paul Lytton, Joe Morris, Agusti Fernandez, and Terrie Ex- before putting together their duo project in October 2013, when they toured the United States for the first time. With this unique ensemble, they deal directly with each other’s iconoclastic compositional and improvisational vocabularies and have created a book of original material that takes inspirational cues from the under-appreciated work of John Carter and Bobby Bradford (two of their compositions are part of the group’s repertoire). Vandermark and Wooley have worked together to create an organic combination of the jazz tradition, free improvisation, and modern composition, and have then placed it into the raw and intimate context of this duo.

On June 22nd, 2014 they recorded an album that combined their performance at Okka Fest 6 in Milwaukee with a studio session the following day. Entitled, East By Northwest, the record was released in December of that year as a co-production between their two independent labels, Pleasure of the Text Records (Wooley) and Audiographic Records (Vandermark). In January 2014, the duo went back on the road in the United States for their second tour together, which culminated in the release of their second disc: All Directions Home. These first two albums were critically acclaimed (East By Northwest [2014] received a 5 star review in the "Free Jazz Collective"; and "The New York City Jazz Record" stated that All Directions Home [2015] "showcases the strengths that have made the duo luminaries in their respective scenes."). In addition, their performance at Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, on May 16th, 2017 was heralded as one of the "Concerts of the Year" by "The New York City Jazz Record".

The duo released their third recording, an LP entitled "Deeply Discounted/Sequences of Snow" in December 2018. This latest album is an exciting new statement from the duo, featuring long-form compositions for the first time, written specifically for the LP format and developed while touring in North America during 2017. Nate Wooley's piece, "Deeply Discounted II," is inspired by John Cage's "Cheap Imitation" which, in turn, was inspired by Erik Satie's, "Socrate;" Ken Vandermark's composition, "Sequences of Snow," is dedicated to the visual artist and musician, Michael Snow, and was influenced by several of Snow's experimental films, such as "Wavelength," "Dripping Water," "La Région Centrale," "So Is This," and "See You Later." The material was recorded in Chicago by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio on June 24, 2017, and the album artwork was designed by Fede Peñalva.

Ken Vandermark and Nate Wooley toured the US between April 23rd and May 3rd of 2019 in support of “Deeply Discounted II/Sequences of Snow.” During the trip, the duo performed some pieces from their first three recordings alongside a new set of music composed in collaboration using the “exquisite corpse” method first made popular by the Surrealist art movement. These new pieces were recorded at Experimental Studio in Chicago at the end of that tour.

Recorded by Ken Vandermark and Nate Wooley at their homes, between June 8-16, 2021
Composed by Ken Vandermark (Twenty First Mobile Music/ASCAP-Cien Fuegos) and Nate Wooley (fourwordseamusic/bmi)

Mastered by Tony Lugo