Mark Dresser is a GRAMMY nominated and internationally renowned bass player, improviser, composer, and interdisciplinary collaborator. At the core of his music is an artistic obsession with and commitment to expanding the sonic, musical, and expressive possibilities of the contrabass. He has recorded more than 140 CDs, including six solo discs and a DVD. From 1985 to 1994, Dresser 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 was awarded a 2015 and 2018 Shifting Foundation Award and 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award for his continued skill and creativity as a composer and performer.
Dresser has performed and recorded the music of influential artists, including Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Dave Douglas, Osvaldo Golijov, Gerry Hemingway, Bob Ostertag, Lei Liang, Joe Lovano, Roger Reynolds, Henry Threadgill, Dawn Upshaw, and John Zorn. Since 2007, Dresser has been deeply involved in telematic music performance and education. He has led several international telematic music performances at University of California San Diego, including Virtual Tour, A Reduced Carbon Footprint Concert Series, where he is a professor of music.
Dresser created the music for two acclaimed CDs, Sedimental You in 2016 as well as the 2019 release, Ain't Nothing But a Cyber Coup & You both for the Mark Dresser Seven (Clean Feed) during two different residencies at MacDowell.
“Calling contrabassist Mark Dresser a virtuoso is like saying Albert Einstein was good at math.” San Diego City Times
Portrait by Jim Carmody
