The Squid's Ear Magazine


Dresser, Mark  / Harkins, Ed / Schick, Steven: House of Mirrors (Clean Feed)

Clever and sublime improvisations based on odd meters, tricky tempo relations and challenging passages, engaging and satisfying music from three masters.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Ed Harkins-trumpets, mellophone

Mark Dresser-doublebass

Steven Schick-percussion


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UPC: 5609063001174

Label: Clean Feed
Catalog ID: CF117
Squidco Product Code: 10266

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2008
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve
Recorded and mastered in January 2006 at UCSD by Tom Erbe.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Being Mark Dresser, the most "classical" of jazz/improvised music bassists today, it is no wonder we find him in the company of two of the most accomplished improvisers coming from the new and classical contemporary fields, Ed Harkins with the trumpet family (piccolo, reed, 2-bell, slide and modular) and Steven Schick on everything percussive, from skins to Chinese temple bells and gongs. But House of Mirrors project isn't similar to the interpretations of Iannis Xenakis, Roger Reynolds or John Luther Adams which the last two musicians are famed for. It was born from Harkins' and Dresser's investigations of complex rhythm, pitch and timbre, enriched by the contribution of Schick in terms of sound and texture.

In the end, this is a proposal emerging from the frontier between what we call "jazz" and the experimental lab of the academic music world, combining in defiant and playful ways, under a solid concept, written open scores and structured improvisation. And if you think that the double bass has a limited range when compared to the varied palette of timbres of the trumpeter and the percussionist, think again: in the hands of Mark Dresser the bass is permanently reinvented. He's known for finding unusual ways to amplify his instrument. Here he uses a "surrealist" (not our term: you find it in the technical sheet of the CD) pick-up system designed by Kent McLagan, and sometimes he even prepares the giant fiddle very much like John Cage prepared the piano. In one instrument you have several. The magnification of sounds from the bass and the mutation of the other instruments will cause you to relate to them in surprising ways. The collaborators themselves said in an interview with music critic Bill Shoemaker, that in some passages of this recording they have difficulties recognizing who plays what. That says it all-the difference of roles assumed by the performers of this trio in relation to both conventional jazz and contemporary music is really something else, and undoubtedly superb."-Clean Feed


Artist Biographies

Mark Dresser is a Grammy nominated, internationally renowned bass player, improviser, composer, and interdisciplinary collaborator. At the core of his music is an artistic obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic, musical, and expressive possibilities of the contrabass. He has recorded over one hundred thirty CDs including three solo CDs and a DVD. From 1985 to 1994, he was a member of Anthony Braxton's Quartet, which recorded nine CDs and was the subject of Graham Locke's book Forces in Motion (Da Capo). He has also performed and recorded music of Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Dave Douglas, Osvaldo Golijov, Gerry Hemingway, Bob Ostertag, Joe Lovano, Roger Reynolds, Henry Threadgill, Dawn Upshaw, John Zorn. Dresser most recent and internationally acclaimed new music for jazz quintet, Nourishments (2013) his latest CD (Clean Feed) marks his re-immersion as a bandleader. Since 2007 he has been deeply involved in telematic music performance and education. He was awarded a 2015 Shifting Foundation Award and 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award. He is Professor of Music at University of California, San Diego.

- Website (https://www.mark-dresser.com/bio)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Xonia 11:17

2. Flumbus 2:41

3. Scrubble 4:46

4. Oscula 15:04

5. Rebus 3:39

6. Floxy 1:41

7. Moa 5:50

8. Scuzzy 7:33

Related Categories of Interest:


Clean Feed
Improvised Music
Jazz
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Clean Feed.


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The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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