Mark Dresser 5 + Jeremy Ledbetter Trio
October 1 @ 8:00 pm – 11:30 pm
8pm – Mark Dresser 5
Chris Speed – clarinet and tenor
Michael Dessen – trombone
Joshua White – piano
Mark Ferber – drums
Mark Dresser – bass and composition
9:30pm – Jeremy Ledbetter Trio
Rich Brown – bass
Sarah Thawer – drums
Jeremy Ledbetter -piano
Mark Dresser
The act of playing the bass is home. It is the primal and primary vehicle of my musical identity. After several solo CDs that explore the musical investigation of extended techniques and electro-acoustic performance through structured improvisation and composition, my quintet music has a somewhat different agenda. The music for this evening is centered around a personal approach to the jazz tradition and song form: beauty of melody, counterpoint and harmony, swing, rhythmic invention and cyclical form. In addition I seek to integrate timbre sculpting, metric modulation, free meter and gradience, i.e. the blurring of boundaries between pitch and noise, meter and texture, form and feeling. Above all is the collaborative and improvisational power of the band that ultimately shapes the music. – Mark Dresser
Mark Dresser is a Grammy nominated, internationally renowned bass player, improviser, and composer. At the core of his music is an obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic, musical, and expressive possibilities of the contrabass. He has recorded over one hundred-fifty CDs including ten CDs as composer/bandleader, five solo recordings and a DVD and his most recent solo LP Modicana (2017). From 1985 to 1994, he was a member of Anthony Braxton’s Quartet. He has also performed and recorded music of Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Dave Douglas, Osvaldo Golijov, Gerry Hemingway, Lei Liang, Bob Ostertag, Joe Lovano, Roger Reynolds, Henry Threadgill, Dawn Upshaw, John Zorn. Since 2007 he has been deeply involved in telematic music performance and education. He was awarded a 2015 & 2018 Shifting Foundation Award and 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award. He is Distinguished Professor of Music at University of California, San Diego.
Jeremy Ledbetter Trio
Forged in a cauldron of raging, inspiring contemporary jazz, the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio pushes the boundaries of jazz and world music, providing an undiluted display of rampaging energy and captivating musicianship. Audiences must exercise caution. People who see this band are rarely the same again. If the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio were an inanimate object it would be a runaway train.
Jeremy Ledbetter has been creating genre-bending original music since forming the Caribbean Latin jazz outfit CaneFire in 2004. Since then, he has worked closely with an international array of artists that includes David Rudder, Eliana Cuevas, the Larnell Lewis Band, Aquiles Baez, Alexis Baro, OKAN, Rinse the Algorithm, Patricia Cano, and more.
The Jeremy Ledbetter Trio sees Jeremy joined by Juno award nominee Sarah Thawer and renowned electric bassist Rich Brown, who offer the perfect counterpart to Ledbetter’s iconoclastic energy at the piano. The Trio’s debut album “Got a Light?”, released in 2018, has been described as “a controlled explosion of big ideas and compelling musical storytelling”.