jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only char ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mon ...

Michael Zerang Michael Zerang (born November 16, 1958) is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. Career Zerang's parents both emigrated to the United States from the Middle East; his father is Iranian and his mother Iraqi.Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a Private school, private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois, Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Frankli ...

Michael Zerang Michael Zerang (born November 16, 1958) is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. Career Zerang's parents both emigrated to the United States from the Middle East; his father is Iranian and his mother Iraqi. Kessler began playing double bass in the 1980s. It became his primary instrument in 1985 when he was asked to join the

NRG Ensemble NRG Ensemble was an American free jazz ensemble founded in the late 1970s by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell.Margasak, PeterThe Undiminished Power of Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble''at Chicago Reader'' The group's personnel was somewhat f ...

, which toured Europe and recorded for

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

under the leadership of

Hal Russell Hal Russell (born Harold Russell Luttenbacher, August 28, 1926 – September 5, 1992) was an American free jazz composer, band leader and multi-instrumentalist who performed mainly on saxophone and drums but occasionally on trumpet or vibra ...

until his death in 1992. In 1991 he worked with Zerang and guitarist ; in need of a hornist, they called

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composi ...

, who had been considering leaving Chicago. Kessler and Vandermark worked together in the Vandermark 5, the DKV Trio, and the Steelwool Trio. In the 1990s and afterwards he worked with

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Afr ...

, Fred Anderson, and

Joe McPhee Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is m ...

and with

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

,

Mats Gustafsson Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player. Career Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chri ...

,

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

, and Luc Houtkamp. In 2003

Okka Disk Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994. Okka began as a rock music label, but Johnson soon changed direction to record free jazz.

released his solo album ''

Bull Fiddle The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

''. As of 2021, Kessler has occasionally accompanied Chicago country-music singer-songwriter

Jane Baxter Miller Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

, in performance and on record. In the 1990s, Baxter Miller, who is also Kent Kessler's wife, had performed and recorded with his sister Kelly Kessler, as the Texas Rubies country-music duo.

Discography

As leader

* ''

Bull Fiddle The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

'' (Okka Disk, 2002)

As co-leader or sideman

With Boneshaker (

Mars Williams Mars Williams (born May 29, 1955) is an American jazz and rock saxophonist. Exposed to big band and dixieland jazz by his trumpet-playing father, Williams played classical clarinet for ten years, then migrated to saxophone in his last year of hi ...

,

Paal Nilssen-Love Paal Nilssen-Love (born 24 December 1974) is a Norwegian drummer and composer in the jazz, free jazz and free improvisation genres. (in Norwegian) Early life Nilssen-Love was born in Molde, Norway. His parents ran a jazz club in Stavanger, and h ...

, Kent Kessler) * ''Boneshaker'' ( Trost, 2012) * ''Unusual Words'' (Soul What, 2014) * ''Thinking Out Loud'' (Trost, 2017) * ''Fake Music'' (Soul What, 2019) With

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

* ''1 & 2 & 3'' (

Okka Disk Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994. Okka began as a rock music label, but Johnson soon changed direction to record free jazz.

, 1998) * ''

Live at the Empty Bottle ''Live at the Empty Bottle'' is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, drummer Hamid Drake, and bassist Kent Kessler. It was recorded on July 22, 1996, at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, and was released in 1999 by Okka Disk as a limited-editio ...

'' (Okka Disk, 1999) * ''Stone & Water'' (Okka Disk, 2000) * ''Broken English'' (Okka Disk, 2002) * ''Short Visit to Nowhere'' (Okka Disk, 2002) * ''

Tales Out of Time ''Tales Out of Time'' is an album by Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang recorded in 2002 and released on the Swiss HatHut label in 2004.

'' (hatOLOGY, 2004) * ''Signs'' (Okka Disk, 2004) * ''Images'' (Okka Disk, 2004) * ''Be Music Night'' (Okka Disk, 2005) * ''

Guts The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans an ...

'' (Okka Disk, 2005) * ''American Landscapes'' (Okka Disk, 2007) * ''At Molde 2007'' (Okka Disk, 2008) * ''Walk, Love, Sleep'' (Smalltown Superjazz, 2012) * ''The Chicago Octet/Tentet'' (Okka Disk, 2022?) With DKV Trio * ''Baraka'' (Okka Disk, 1997) * ''DKV Live'' (Okka Disk, 1997) * ''Live in Wels & Chicago 1998'' (Okka Disk, 1999) * ''Trigonometry'' (Okka Disk, 2002) * ''Double or Nothing'' (Okka Disk, 2002) * ''Collider'' (Not Two, 2016) * ''Latitude 41.88'' (Not Two, 2017) With

NRG Ensemble NRG Ensemble was an American free jazz ensemble founded in the late 1970s by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell.Margasak, PeterThe Undiminished Power of Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble''at Chicago Reader'' The group's personnel was somewhat f ...

* ''

Calling All Mothers ''Calling All Mothers'' is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their first after the death of bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1993 and released on the Quinnah label. Reception The AllMusic r ...

'' (Quinnah, 1994) * ''

This Is My House ''This Is My House'' is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their second with saxophonist Ken Vandermark in place of the bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1995 and released on Delmark. Recepti ...

'' ( Delmark, 1996) * ''Bejazzo Gets a Facelift'' (

Atavistic In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways; one of which is when ...

, 1997) With

Hal Russell Hal Russell (born Harold Russell Luttenbacher, August 28, 1926 – September 5, 1992) was an American free jazz composer, band leader and multi-instrumentalist who performed mainly on saxophone and drums but occasionally on trumpet or vibra ...

* ''

The Finnish/Swiss Tour ''The Finnish/Swiss Tour'' is a live album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in 1991 and released on the ECM label in 1992. Reception The Allmusic review awarded the album 4½ stars ...

'' (

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

, 1991) * ''

The Hal Russell Story ''The Hal Russell Story'' is the final album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in Switzerland in 1992 and released on the ECM label in 1993.

'' (ECM, 1993) * '' Hal on Earth'' (Abduction, 1995) With

Territory Band Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, six or seven n ...

* ''Transatlantic Bridge'' (Okka Disk, 2001) * ''Atlas'' (Okka Disk, 2002) * ''Map Theory'' (Okka Disk, 2004) * ''Company Switch'' (Okka Disk, 2005) * ''New Horse for the White House'' (Okka Disk, 2006) * ''Collide'' (Okka Disk, 2007) With

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composi ...

* ''Big Head Eddie'' (Platypus, 1993) * ''Solid Action'' (Platypus, 1994) * ''Standards'' (Quinnah, 1995) * Steelwool Trio (Ken Vandermark/Kent Kessler/Curt Newton): ''

International Front ''International Front'' is an album by American jazz reedist Ken Vandermark, which was recorded in 1994 and released on Okka Disk. He leads the Steelwool Trio with longtime partner bassist Kent Kessler and Boston drummer Curt Newton.Fred Anderson, ''

Fred Anderson / DKV Trio ''Fred Anderson / DKV Trio'' is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with the DKV Trio, composed of drummer Hamid Drake, bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. The album was recorded in 1996 and released on Okka Disk. ...

'' (Okka Disk, 1997) * Jane Baxter Miller, ''Harm Among the Willows'' (

Bloodshot Records Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, which specializes in alternative country. History Bloodshot Records was founded in 1994 by Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and Eric Babcock, who knew each other from jobs i ...

, 2010) *

Jeb Bishop Jeb Bishop (born 1962) is an American jazz trombone player. He grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attended Jesse O. Sanderson High School. He has studied music (classical trombone performance) at Northwestern University, engineering and ...

, ''Jeb Bishop Trio, Kent Kessler, Tim Mulvenna'' (Okka Disk, 1999) * Jeb Bishop, ''Afternoons'' (Okka Disk, 2001) *

Guillermo Gregorio Guillermo Gregorio (born May 1, 1941, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine jazz and free improvisation clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer. Biography Gregorio was born into a musical family. He became interested in experimental music in the early 196 ...

, ''Degrees of Iconicity'' (hatART, 2000) *

Peter Kowald Peter Kowald (21 April 1944 – 21 September 2002) was a German free jazz and free improvising double bassist and tubist. Career A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with many Europea ...

, ''Flats Fixed'' (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2014) *

Wayne Kramer Wayne Kramer may refer to: * Wayne Kramer (filmmaker) (born 1965), South African film writer and director * Wayne Kramer (guitarist) (born 1948), American guitarist {{Hndis, Kramer, Wayne ...

, ''Adult World'' (Diesel Motor/MuscleTone 2002) *

Fred Lonberg-Holm Fred Lonberg-Holm (born 1 October 1962) is an American cellist based in Chicago. He moved from New York City to Chicago in 1995. Lonberg-Holm is most identified with playing free improvisation and free jazz. He is also a composer of concert wor ...

, ''At the Hideout Kuro'' (Neko Music, 2009) * Fred Lonberg-Holm, ''Two Lightboxes'' (Locust Music, 2004) *

Joe McPhee Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is m ...

, ''

A Meeting in Chicago ''A Meeting in Chicago'' is an album by trumpeter/saxophonist Joe McPhee, reedist Ken Vandermark and bassist Kent Kessler, which was released in 1997 on Eighth Day Music and reissued the following year with new artwork by Okka Disk. The album docu ...

'' (Eighth Day Music, 1997) * Joe McPhee, ''The Damage Is Done'' (Not Two, 2009) *

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

, ''Two Days in Chicago'' (hatOLOGY, 1999) * Joe Morris, ''

Deep Telling ''Deep Telling'' is an album by American jazz guitarist Joe Morris with the DKV Trio recorded in 1998 and released on Okka Disk. The DKV Trio is a band composed of drummer Hamid Drake, bassist Kent Kessler, and saxophonist Ken Vandermark. The who ...

'' (Okka Disk, 1999) * Paul Rutherford, ''

Chicago 2002 ''Chicago 2002'' is a live album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. It was recorded on April 26 and 27, 2002, at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, and was released later that year by Emanem Records. The album features an extended Rutherford solo followed b ...

'' (Emanem, 2002) *

Mars Williams Mars Williams (born May 29, 1955) is an American jazz and rock saxophonist. Exposed to big band and dixieland jazz by his trumpet-playing father, Williams played classical clarinet for ten years, then migrated to saxophone in his last year of hi ...

, ''Mars Williams Presents: An Ayler Xmas'' (Soul What, 2017) * Mars Williams, ''Mars Williams Presents: An Ayler Xmas Vol. 2'' (Soul What, 2018) *

Michael Zerang Michael Zerang (born November 16, 1958) is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. Career Zerang's parents both emigrated to the United States from the Middle East; his father is Iranian and his mother Iraqi.Musicians from Chicago American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists 1957 births Living people Jazz musicians from Illinois 21st-century double-bassists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians NRG Ensemble members Okka Disk artists