A foundational member of the early Downtown NY scene, now West Coast-based double bassist Mark Dresser expands the sonic properties of his instrument in 12 succinct and forceful improvisations, expanding 4- & 5-string basses through metal tines, bowed and plucked, along with magnetic pickups amplifying nearly inaudible sounds from the strings and the instrument; awe inspiring!
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UPC: 020286242130
Label: Pyroclastic Records
Catalog ID: PR 25
Squidco Product Code: 33320
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: Canada
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at UC San Diego, California. on July 21st, 2019, and November 1th and 14th, 2022, by Alexandria Smith.
"I think of the bass as an orchestra. Its sonic properties offer colors that are beautiful, dimensional, and idiosyncratic. Instrumental augmentation, decades of musical research, and hyper-specific recording techniques offer new musical potentials.
Luthier, engineer and bassist Kent McLagan has been building remarkably strong sounding, affordable basses from sustainable woods for over 20 years. McLagan's instruments maximize clarity of pitch and power in all the registers with innovative functional design.
Our collaboration began in 2000, when he embedded hand wound magnetic pickups in the fingerboard of my bass, in two specific locations, which amplifies three different pitch segments per string. This new music was first documented on the recordings UNVEIL (CD, Clean Feed 2005) and GUTS: Bass Explorations, Investigations & Explanations (CD/DVD, Kadima Collective 2010).
In 2014 I asked Kent to build me a bass with a removable neck and built in neck pick-ups that would weigh under the 50 pound limit for overweight airline charges. I also proposed an idea for an attachment to the bass that could be bowed and plucked, a set of metal tines, a cross between an African mbira and stroked rods designed by late composer, Robert Erickson, first recorded on Modicana (No Business, LP 2017)
In 2021 on a visit to Denver, Kent showed me a 5-string bass with a low B he had recently completed for himself. It was exceptional in its power and projection. I commissioned him to build me a five string with neck pick-ups and tines that could be strung with either a low B or a high C.
Alexandria Smith recorded and mixed this CD. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Technology at Loyola University, New Orleans. I first met Alexandria in 2017 when she was a graduate student at UC SanDiego. I showed her my McLagan bass with the tines and she offered to record me. I knew she as a gifted engineer she would capture the details ofmy performance and this new instrument."-Mark Dresser - December, 2022 Encinitas, CA
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Mark Dresser 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. ^ Hide Bio for Mark Dresser
4/17/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Prolotine 3:56
2. Tynalogue 3:16
3. Harmonity 7:38
4. Melodine 3:50
5. Bitonetime 3:21
6. Gregoratyne 6:08
7. Augmentine 6:49
8. Chordone 3:27
9. Nakatanitine 7:29
10. Tonologue 5:06
11. Narratone 5:23
12. Epitine 2:10
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
West Coast/Pacific US Jazz
Stringed Instruments
Solo Artist Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
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Pyroclastic Records.
 | Bradford, Bobby / Hafez Modirzadeh / Mark Dresser / Alex Cline Live At The Open Gate [VINYL] (NoBusiness) |
| West Coast cornetist Bobby Bradford captured live in 2013 for a superb set at the Center for the Arts in Los Angeles, part of the Open Gate Theatre Sunday evening concert series, in a quartet with Hafez Modirzadeh on alto sax, Mark Dresser on bass, and Alex Cline on drums. | |
 | Braxton, Anthony Quartet (Victoriaville) 1992 (Les Disques Victo) |
| Compositions 159, 148, 161, 158 and John Coltrane's "Impressions", performed with Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway. | |
 | Jones Jones (feat. Larry Ochs / Vladimir Tarasov / Mark Dresser) Just Justice (ESP) |
| The eccentrically named group "Jones Jones" is the trio of Lithuanian drummer Vladimir Tarasov, NY/West Coast bassist Mark Dresser and Rova Saxophone Quartet saxophonist Larry Ochs, since 2008 expressing humor and vexation at the world in sometimes meditative and sometimes explosive collective free improvisation, here in their 4th outstanding album and their 1st in the studio. | |
 | Schoenbeck, Sara Sara Schoenbeck (Pyroclastic Records) |
| A document of bassoonist Sara Shoenbeck's collaborations recorded between 2019-2021 in recording studios across North America, showing the inspired curiosity she brings to improvisation through a diverse set of duos performed with Harris Eisenstadt, Nicole Mitchell, Nels Cline, Roscoe Mitchell, Matt Mitchell, Mark Dresser, Wayne Horvitz, Peggy Lee and Robin Holcomb. | |
 | Ochs, Larry / Aram Shelton Quartet (w/ Nordeson / Dresser / Walton) Continental Drift (Clean Feed) |
| Key artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, composers and bandleaders Larry Ochs on tenor and sopranino saxophones and Aram Shelton on alto saxophone join together with Swedish drummer Kjell Nordeson, joined by either double bassist Mark Dresser or Scott Walton, in an album drawn from two sessions featuring exhiliarating pieces of unique approach from both composers. | |
 | Alves, Pedro Melo (Johnson / Nunes / Dionisio / Risser / Dresser / Moieme / Alves) In Igma (Clean Feed) |
| Constrast from shifts in sound, texture and dynamic in Pedro Melo Alves' commissioned work for the Jazz No Parque Festival, using 3 vocalists (Aubrey Johnson, Beatriz Nunes, & Mariana Dionisio) to layer and interact over a quartet of contemporary and improvised instrumentalists: Eve Risser (piano), Mark Dresser (bass), Abdul Moimeme (electric guitar), and Alves (drums & percussion). | |
 | Dresser, Mark Seven (Mitchell / Ehrlich / Boroff / Dessen / White / Black) Sedimental You (Clean Feed) |
| Downtown NY scene pioneering bassist, currently on the West Coast, Mark Dresser presents an album of original compositions performed with an amazing septet including Marty Ehrlich, Jim Black, Joshua White, Michael Dessen, David Morales Borof, and Nicole Mitchell. | |
 | Lehman, Steve Camouflage Trio Interface [VINYL 2 LPs] (Clean Feed) |
| Reissuing and re-mixing New York saxophonist Steve Lehman's 2004 album with his previous Camouflage Trio of Mark Dress on double bass and Pheeroan Aklaff on drums, perfoming a stupendous set of original compositions live at Teatro Academica Gil Vicente in Coimbra, Portugal. | |
 | Nabatov, Simon / Mark Dresser Projections (Clean Feed) |
| The 1st meeting between Simon Nabatov on piano (inside and out) and double bassist Mark Dresser, recorded live at the Loft in Cologne in 2014, for a remarkable dialog of empathetic communication, outrageous technique and dynamic exchange from two authoritative players. | |
 | Shyu, Jen + Mark Dresser Synastry (Pi Recordings) |
| Vocalist Jen Shyu and master bassist Mark Dresser in a duo exploring opportunities for space and sound, texture and styles, through informed songs that include texts by Li Po and Ge Hong. | |
 | ElSaffar, Amir / Hafez Modirzadeh Radif Suite (Pi Recordings) |
| An important new recording in the continuing advancement of jazz from the trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh. | |
 | 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. | |
 | Fox, Billy The Uncle Wiggly Suite (Clean Feed) |
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