Ken Vandermark meets Field Kitchen/Field Kitchen meets Ken Vandermark

The “Ken Vandermark meets Field Kitchen/Field Kitchen meets Ken Vandermark” collaboration began with two concerts in Detroit during June of 2026 and expanded for performances held at The Green Mill in Chicago on Friday, July 31st and Saturday, August 1st. 

The Field Kitchen ensemble has been organized by Ben Hall, and the band manifests as a hybrid of Hall’s contemporary classical writing, his rhythmic Detroit roots and the group’s range of experience- from free improvisation to punk to Pentecostal church.  He asked Vandermark to contribute material to pieces composed by the foundation group of Hall (surdo/conga), Indira Edwards & Mike Khoury (violas), Cyrus Pireh (guitar), and Sharon Udoh (organ) for those Detroit appearances.  The Chicago events incorporated more elements composed by Vandermark.  The ensemble has now been augmented to a octet that includes internationally renowned musicians based in both Chicago and Detroit, representatives of the “New Midwest School”.

Both of those spectacular concerts of three sets a night by the group in Chicago were recorded for a future release on Audiographic Records.