Michael Dessen Trio
My
main working band as a leader, this trio performs a unique mix of adventurous
improvisation, intricate compositions, live electronic soundscapes, and polyrhythmic
flow. It features two phenomenal young NY-based musicians, Tyshawn
Sorey on drums and Christopher
Tordini on bass, along with myself on trombone
and laptop.
LISTEN: Excerpts from Between
Shadow and Space (Clean
Feed Records, 2008):
Between Shadow and
Space
Chocolate Geometry
(for MSD)
Anthesis
Water Seeks (for AC)
Cosmologic
Cosmologic is
a collective quartet based in Southern California, known for crossing
a wide range of improvised music traditions with our special brew of
high-energy grooves, open textures, and collective alchemy. We've been
together since 1999 and just released our fourth
album, Eyes In the Back of My Head, on Cuneiform
Records.
Cosmologic
is Jason
Robinson (sax), Michael Dessen (tbn), Scott
Walton (bass), and Nathan
Hubbard (perc).
More info: www.cosmologic.org
LISTEN: The
Rumpus,
comp. Dessen, from Eyes In The Back Of My Head
Solo / Digibone
My trombone-computer setup lets me move between
an open microphone (in which case the audience hears both the trombone
and its processed sound) and a practice mute with a mic inside (for controlling
computer-processed sounds with the trombone, since the mute muffles the
acoustic sound). I've been performing this way in collaborative contexts
for years, and am now finishing up a solo album.
LISTEN: Googlar
1 (trombone
and live processing/sampling, unreleased; all rights reserved)
Telematics
Over the past few years, I've been involved with several telematic (distance)
performances over the internet, including two performances in 2008 in collaboration
with bassist Mark
Dresser, pianist Myra
Melford, and other great artists, as well as an earlier project
with Shahrokh Yadegari. I'm excited to explore telematics more, and have
several other collaborations underway for 2009.
WATCH: Feb.08
Telematic concert. Between UC San Diego, UC Berkeley and
Stanford University, with Mark Dresser, Myra Melford, David Wessel, Billy Mintz,
Chris Chafe, Phil Larson, and Michael Dessen.
Fifth Species
Fifth Species is an ongoing series of small group compositions for improvisers.
My first recording in this series, Lineal,
was released in 2007 by Circumvention
Music, and features Mark
Dresser, Susie
Ibarra, Vijay Iyer, Terry
Jenoure, Jorge Roeder and
Bob Weiner.
LISTEN: Excerpts from Lineal:
Lineal, with
Iyer/Dresser/Ibarra
What space can hide
the liberty of a line, with Roeder/Weiner
Flecha, with
Iyer/Dresser/Ibarra
