Mark Dresser
makes music in a vast variety of settings and contexts, but the dauntingly
prolific bassist always seeks to create space for the unpredictable play
between form and freedom. On his new album Sedimental You, slated for release
in early November 2016, he's assembled an astonishingly creative cast that
embraces the intuitive and emotionally charged nature of his improvisational
imperative. Riveting, playful and often revelatory, his compositions emerge out
of a shifting matrix of specific musical personalities and the often dismaying
swirl of current events.
Working with
a supremely gifted septet, Dresser brings together emerging talent and revered
veterans from East and West Coast scenes. In many ways, Sedimental You builds
directly on orchestrational concepts he's been exploring in smaller ensembles,
and relationships he's honed via telematic connections (which enable musicians
in different locations to perform live in real time via high speed/high
bandwidth links.)
None of the
music is programmatic, but the porous nature of the compositions means that the
world's joys and woes seep in. Mocking denunciations and ache-filled reveries
flow into open-hearted evocations of beloved colleagues, both departed and
still very much with us. Dresser notes that he always writes with specific musicians
in mind, "and I really had Marty's clarinet sound in my ear. I've had lots
of groups with Michael Dessen, who's a virtuoso trombonist and an invaluable
collaborator in my groups and telematic projects. And Jim Black is a force of
nature, who I worked with most often in New York and on Japanese tours as the
rhythm section for Satoko Fujii."
Dresser
started working with Nicole Mitchell after she joined the faculty up the road
at UC Irvine, a relationship expanded by collaboration via telematics. He's
played several high profile concerts in her ensembles, and she's become an
important part of his West Coast quintet. "She's a wonderfully open
collaborator, a great soloist, with superb musicianship and a buoyant musical
spirit." Dresser says.
San Diego
pianist Joshua White is a rapidly rising star who's toured internationally with
Rudresh Mahanthappa's Bird Calls project. With a potent array of influences at
his fingertips, from gospel and spirituals to free improvisation, he quickly
fell in with Dresser after the bassist moved to town and discovered "an
amazing talent with incredible ears and intuition," Dresser says.
"He's a fearless improviser whose musical instincts I completely
trust."
The album's
wild card is violinist David Morales Boroff, the youngest player on the
project. In a serendipitous connection, he's the son of esteemed folk guitarist
Phil Boroff, who happened to give Dresser's mother guitar lessons back in the
1970s. "David's got a freaky ear," Dresser says. "I'd give him
one of my tunes and he'd be at the piano reharmonizing it. He has a beautiful
violin sound and a soulful lyricism that belies his age "
The album
opens with "Hobby Lobby Horse," a tricky tune built from bass line up
with a derisive hitch in the groove. The title track slyly refers to the 1932
Tommy Dorsey hit "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You." Drawing on the
cadences of the original, he recalibrated the harmony to evoke its sound and
mood. The heart of the album is "Will Well (For Roswell Rudd)," a
startlingly tender piece that Dresser conceived with the trombone legend (and
frequent collaborator) in mind. He first played the tune in a trio with White
and drummer Kjell Nordeson, but this extended version brings out everyone's
sumptuous lyricism, particularly when Mitchell's throaty alto flute winds
around Ehrlich's woody bass clarinet. "It's an incantation of sorts for
Roswell," Dresser says.
Dresser's
strikingly beautiful tribute "I Can Smell You Listening (for the late
Alexandra Montano)" evokes the boundless spirit of the extraordinary
mezzo-soprano who contributed memorably on the 2005 Dresser/Denman Maroney
album Time Changes (Cryptogramophone). An extended melodic line that rises and
falls, fades and reappears, the tune features some of Ehrlich's most ravishing clarinet
work. He offers a different kind of lament with "Newtown Char," a
piece he created in response to the unfathomable massacres in Connecticut and
Charleston, SC. Structurally and emotionally, it's the album's centerpiece, a
plaintive unfurling melody keyed to the thick, woody sound of Ehrlich's bass
clarinet. The album closes with the brief, elegiac theme "Two Handfuls of
Peace (for Daniel Jackson)," a celebration of the revered San Diego tenor
saxophonist who died in 2014 at 77.
Amidst a
steady flow of recent albums, Sedimental You stands out as Dresser's most
ambitious work as a bandleader. April saw the release of The Moscow
Improvisations by Jones Jones, a volatile collective trio with Russian
percussionist Vladimir Tarasov and ROVA saxophonist Larry Ochs. And in March
the talent laden SLM Ensemble released Source (Liminal Music), a large group
project co-led and conducted by Sarah Weaver featuring masters such as vocalist
Jen Shyu, flutist Robert Dick, percussionist Gerry Hemmingway, and saxophonists
Jane Ira Bloom and Marty Ehrlich.
Born in Los
Angeles, Dresser has been a creative force since he first started gaining
attention in the early '70s with Stanley Crouch's Black Music Infinity, a free
jazz ensemble that included Bobby Bradford, Arthur Blythe, James Newton, and
David Murray. He earned a BA and MA from UC San Diego studying contrabass with
Bertram Turetzky. While on a Fulbright in Italy studying with maestro Franco
Petracchi, Dresser was recruited by Anthony Braxton for his celebrated quartet
with Gerry Hemingway and pianist Marilyn Crispell. Dresser made the move to New
York in 1986 and spent a decade touring and recording with the reed visionary.
A ubiquitous force on the Downtown scene, he worked widely with masters such as
Ray Anderson, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, and John Zorn.
A prolific
composer and recording artist, Dresser developed many pieces for the Arcado
String Trio, and Tambastics, while receiving numerous commissions and recording
his original scores for several classic silent films, including The Cabinet of
Dr. Caligari. Since returning to Southern California in 2004 to join the UCSD
music faculty he's maintained creative relationships with many of his New York
associates, though the move west coincided with his renewed focus on solo bass
performance and telematic research. Recommitted to working with larger groups,
he's once again the catalyst for a roiling creative community, work that earned
him a prestigious Doris Duke Impact Award in 2015. More than impactful, Sedimental
You is music to recharge your ears, agitate your soul, and open your mind.
The new album features an all-star multi-generational cast with flutist Nicole Mitchell, clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, trombonist Michael Dessen, pianist Joshua White, drummer Jim Black, and newcomer David Morales Boroff on violin.
Available November 2016 on Clean Feed.
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