Product Description The Tesla coil that The Vandermark 5 has become seems beyond built to last; the creative whole constantly outweighs the sum of the parts in this quintet. Amazon.com Chicago reed-player Ken Vandermark has a formidable set of chops. He's honed them by being one of the most active musicians on the healthy Chicago scene, and from touring both in the States and Europe with clocklike regularity. Amidst all this activity, the Vandermark 5 is where Vandermark is at his best. His most active combo (with five albums in five years under their belt), the three-horn quintet adeptly attacks Vandermark's patented angular compositions, swings the noirish bop grooves, and embellishes these tunes with solos that are individualistic without losing sense of the tune. Acoustic Machine also features a number of contemplative interludes that balance the band's brawn with tasteful restraint. As a special bonus, the first edition of Acoustic Machine also includes a second disc of free-jazz classics, which features covers of tunes by written such icons as Don Cherry and Archie Shepp. Nevertheless, with Vandermark's best set of tunes to date on the proper album, it could take a while to get to the second disc. --Tad Hendrickson