Bassist and composer Mark Dresser has developed a recognizable sound and masterful technique through the years -- from the L.A. avant garde jazz scene of the early '70s, to '80s European tours in Anthony Braxton's Quartet, to the late '90s' NYC downtown scene of musicians who frequently are booked at such venues as the Knitting Factory and Tonic. In addition to his acclaimed work as a composer, Mark Dresser has emerged as a master of the contrabass and has played in all manner of improvisatory and composed settings with just about every major experimental, creative and/or improviser around-- including Misha Mengelberg, Evan Parker, Henry Threadgill, Tim Berne, John Zorn, and even Diamanda Galas! He has worked as a professional musician since he was 20 years old. In the early '70s, he played in Stanley Crouch's Black Music Infinity, a group that included Bobby Bradford, Arthur Blythe, James Newton and David Murray. Also during this time, Dresser was playing in the San Diego Symphony. He earned his M.A. at UCSD (where he also studied as an undergraduate), went to Italy on a Fulbright Fellowship, then moved to New York in 1986, when he was invited to join the Anthony Braxton Quartet. Dresser toured Europe and recorded with the Quartet, which included pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Gerry Hemingway through the early '90s. In NY, Dresser also focused on composing for the Arcado String Trio, and Tambastics, two groups he performed in which toured extensively, won awards, and combined recorded six CDs. Dresser has received several commissions including from Germany's WDR Radio of Cologne, and the McKim fund. Dresser has led his many recordings, including those of his own quintet, Force Green, and recordings of his original scores for two classic silent films, including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In 1995, the Knitting Factory label released a CD of some of his solo contrabass recordings, Invocation, and two years later, Tzadik issued two of his chamber works, Banquet. Dresser has guest lectured at Juilliard, UCSD and the National Superior Conservatory of Paris. By the late '90s, he had performed on over 70 CDs, was still based out of New York, and continued wowing audiences in a variety of musical settings. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide
He has performed and recorded with many of the luminaries of "new" jazz composition and improvisation. For ten years he performed with the Anthony Braxton Quartet, as well as diverse groups led by Ray Anderson, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Gerry Hemingway, John Zorn, and others. He has made over sixty recordings.
He has received grants from New York Foundation for the Arts and Meet the Composer, He holds both B.A. and M.A. degrees in music from the University of California, San Diego where he studied contrabass with the seminal virtuoso of twentieth century performance practice, Maestro Bertram Turetzky. He was awarded a 1983 Fulbright Fellowship for advanced contrabass study with Maestro Franco Petracchi.
Dresser has been composing and performing solo contrabass and ensemble music professionally since 1972 throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. His own projects include Mark Dresser's "Force Green," and the Mark Dresser Trio, performing his music for the French Surrealist film masterpiece of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, Un chien andalou as well as the German expressionist silent film classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Additional original solo bass music was composed for the New York Shakespeare Festival Production of HENRY VI. Collaborative projects include "The Double Trio," composed of the "Arcado String Trio" and the Trio du Clarinettes.
He was commissioned by the Banliues Bleues Festival in Paris to premier Dresser's composition Bosnia, later recorded on CD by the "Double Trio" as Green Dolphy Street on ENJA. A founding member of the Arcado String Trio, he also received a commission from WDR Radio of Cologne, Germany in 1991 to compose For Not the Law, an extended work for string trio and orchestra. Released on CD by JMT, For Three Strings and Orchestra, is the third of five CDs recorded by Arcado. In 1992, Dresser composed and performed Armadillo, for Arcado and the WDR Big Band. In 1995, The Banquet, a double concert for various flutes and contrabass with string quartet was written and commissioned by Swiss flute virtuoso Matthias Ziegler. Invocation, on Knitting Factory Works is the most recent CD of Dresser's contrabass music.
Discography
As leader
1993 - The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (Knitting Factory)
1995 - Invocation (Knitting Factory)
1997 - Banquet (Tzadik)
1997 - Eye'll Be Seeing You (Knitting Factory)
1999 - Sonomondo (Cryptogramophone)
2000 - Marinade (Tzadik)
2001 - Reunion: Live At The Guelph Jazz Festival (Intrepid Ear)
