Jazz Articles about Mark Dresser

About Mark Dresser

Album Review

Bobby Bradford / Mark Dresser / Hafez Modirzadeh: Sonic House Reunion

Read "Sonic House Reunion" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
October 27, 2026

On Sonic House Reunion, three long-time colleagues confirm that familiarity in no way dilutes depth of expression. Cornetist Bobby Bradford and saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh boast a fertile track record, affirmed by discs such as Live At The Blue Whale (NoBusiness, 2019), Live At The Magic Triangle (NoBusiness, 2017) and Live At The Open Gate (NoBusiness, 2016). Bassist Mark Dresser joined on the last of these, and he rounds out the trio here too. Together they combine for a relaxed session ...

Album Review

Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985

Read "Quartet (England) 1985" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 10, 2025

Though Leo Records has previously documented Quartet (London) 1985 (1988); Quartet (Birmingham) 1985 (1991); and Quartet (Coventry) 1985 (1993), Burning Ambulance Music is proud to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the tour with this set of previously unreleased recordings from Liverpool, Sheffield, Leicester, Bristol, Southampton, Leeds, and Huddersfield. Set to be digitally released exclusively on Bandcamp on what would have been Braxton's 80th birthday, (June 4, 2025), Quartet England (1985) is an unhinged glory from start to finish.

Album Review

Mark Dresser: Tines of Change

Read "Tines of Change" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
February 7, 2024

Musicista poliedrico e aperto, ma anche grande ricercatore sul proprio strumento, Mark Dresser non è nuovo alla documentazione del proprio lavoro in solitudine sul contrabbasso, svolto anche con la collaborazione del suo artigiano di riferimento --Kent McLagan --che dal 2000 continua a sviluppare per lui soluzioni innovative atte a sfruttare le molteplici possibilità sonore dello strumento.Così, dopo Unveil (2005) e Guts: Bass Explorations, Investigations & Explanations (2010), nei quali usava strumenti con ponti modificati e pick up integrati ...

Album Review

Mark Dresser: Tines of Change

Read "Tines of Change" reviewed by Jeff Schwartz

by Jeff Schwartz
August 3, 2023

Since his arrival as a member of Anthony Braxton's mid-1980s quartet, Mark Dresser has been expanding the sonic palette of the upright bass. Like Barre Phillips, Barry Guy, and Joëlle Léandre before him, Dresser drew from both the classical avant-garde of players such as Bertram Turetzky and Fernando Grillo and the more intuitive improvisational approaches of Henry Grimes, Alan Silva, William Parker, and others. His solo recordings are important documents of this work; Tines of Change is the latest.

Album Review

Mark Dresser: Tines of Change

Read "Tines of Change" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
May 31, 2023

Anyone familiar with the work of bassist Mark Dresser knows that he is an uncompromising innovator, always dedicated to pushing his music into new territory; and if that requires novel technical modifications to his instrument itself, then so be it. He has partnered with fellow bassist Kent McLagan as far back as 2001 to create adapted basses using additional pickups, which allow Dresser to create multiple pitches for each string of his bass. On his most recent solo project, Tines ...

Album Review

Sara Schoenbeck: Sara Schoenbeck

Read "Sara Schoenbeck" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
December 9, 2021

Sara Schoenbeck is cast against type in the world of bassoonists. The versatile double reed, broad-ranged instrument dates to the Renaissance and is commonly found in wind ensembles and chamber orchestras. But Schoenbeck has brought her classical-leaning instrument to creative music in an electrifying body of work. Her self-titled leader debut is the first such project of her career. A series of nine duets allows Schoenbeck to fully explore the scope of the bassoon in close settings. Not ...

Album Review

Pedro Melo Alves: In Igma

Read "In Igma" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 4, 2021

Jazz has had a presence in Portugal since the mid-1920s but had found itself in decline from the 1970s. The revolutionary jazz scene in Portugal, circa the 2010s, has produced a profusion of rising stars. Violist Ernesto Rodrigues, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, Orquestra Jazz De Matosinhos, and the Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble are among those who have emerged as influential beyond the Portuguese border. Two driving forces in that country's improvised music—drummer-percussionist Pedro Melo Alves and experimental guitarist Abdul Moimême—team ...