Mark Dresser 5

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.

www.mark-dresser.com