Aquifer

Mark Dresser

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 2002)
• Original Release Date: January 22, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cryptogramophone
• ASIN: B00005YD4C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #365,190 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Mark Dresser is a remarkably innovative bassist who has few equals in the downtown jazz scene. He's carved out this reputation through his work in Anthony Braxton's great quartet from the '80s and early '90s and through countless sideman gigs with just about everyone. Dresser's own music usually lands on the more cerebral end of the downtown jazz scene, integrating more of a modern classical edge. But he can swing his way through arching melodies, and isn't afraid to look to other cultures for musical inspiration either. Also featuring talented flutist Matthias Ziegler and inventive hyperpianist Denman Maroney, Aquifer is a fluid three-way conversation of avant-garde chamber jazz where the melodies and arrangements are angular while remaining organic. The music's tone ranges from the chilling title track to the jubilant "FLAC" to the bluesy "Modern Pine." Beautiful and sophisticated, Aquifer is nice effort from a great bassist and his crew. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A playful, mercurial disc, September 8, 2004

By	Toe Surgeon (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

While I wouldn't say it's a "fun" record, Mark Dresser's Aquifer is certainly more playful and less claustrophobic than his duo disc, Sonomondo, with Frances-Marie Uitti. Out of nowhere, "hyperpiano" player Denman Maroney breaks into a stride piano solo in the middle of early highlight "Digestivo," and there's a bouncy, woozy vibe to "Threaded/Spin X" that suggests the trio (composed of Dresser, Maroney and flautist Mathias Ziegler) is coming down from a nitrous oxide high.

All three musicians are sonic alchemists, conjuring new sounds from their instruments and experimenting with their mixture. Dresser somehow evokes a swarm of bees in the opening section of the album centerpiece "Sonomatopoeia" while Maroney scrapes the inside of his prepared piano and Ziegler's flute becomes a gust of wind. The aquatic theme of the album is recalled on the opener "FLBP," as the combo moans and creaks like an old, leaky boat slowly sinking into the ocean.

There's a lot of spacious improv on this disc, but the composed pieces are pretty awesome, too. The pointillistic "Pulse Field" is more or less a dance piece, albeit totally perverted and thoroughly syncopated. And on "FLAC," Maroney pulls off the insanely difficult task of doubling Dresser's brainy line with his left hand and doubling Ziegler's equally brainy but completely unrelated line with his right hand. Simultaneously. The same trick that Brad Mehldau uses, without being abetted by the strictures of tonality...wow.

"Aquifer" can be listened to as compelling background music, but there is a whole lot to listen to. Buy this, pick up the 2000 disc "Sonomondo" on Cryptogramophone, then enroll in UC San Diego, where Dresser is replacing Bertram Turetzky as resident master bass teacher.