
Sound It Out in NYC
I enjoyed a chance to play in NYC last weekend on the Sound It Out series at Greenwhich Music House with my trio, with Chris Tordini and Dan Weiss, along with special guest vocalist Fay Victor. We played some newer music and reworked some pieces from past trio albums, all of it expanded by Fay’s incredible artistry. The other set … Read more

Duo with Joshua White
I loved playing an electro-acoustic duo gig with Joshua White at the Blue Whale in November. Joshua played piano and keyboard, sometimes simultaneously, and I was also using both trombone and laptop. Joshua always inspires me with his moment to moment creative choices and after so many years of collaborating with him in acoustic bands, it was both exciting and … Read more

SoundPath by Muhal Richard Abrams
I was so grateful to be a part of performing and recording SoundPath by Muhal Richard Abrams, who passed just one year ago at the age of 87. Muhal’s generosity, creative vision and music had such a deep and broad impact on the field and on so many individuals, myself included. This project for the October Revolution Festival in Philadelphia … Read more

Fay Victor and Elisabeth Harnik
Such a joy to perform an improvised set with vocalist Fay Victor and pianist Elisabeth Harnik at iBeam in Brooklyn! The music included a powerful poem Fay had composed in response to the US senate’s horrifying supreme court confirmation process on that same weekend. It was great to play with Fay again and meet Elisabeth, both incredible improvisers.

With Jeff Parker, Joshua White and Anna Butterss at Sam First
In September, I enjoyed leading a great band at Sam First in LA, with Jeff Parker, Joshua White and Anna Butterss. We played some new music I’ve been working on, as well works by Yusef Lateef and Carla Bley. Looking forward to some more gigs in the future with these incredible musicians!

New album with the Mark Dresser 7
I just enjoyed several days in the studio recording a new album by Mark Dresser with his septet, an amazing band with Marty Ehrlich, Nicole Mitchell, Joshua White, Jim Black and Keir GoGwilt. The album will be released Clean Feed Records, and we had the privilege of recording with the fantastic engineer Ron Saint Germain (pictured here with Mark) at … Read more

Bogotá!
Last week, I enjoyed collaborating on a couple concerts with some creative musicians in Bogotá as well as teaching and performing a solo concert in Medellín. In Bogotá, I played two gigs at *matik-matik*, the first an evening of improvised music with Juliana Gaona, Rodlofo Acosta, Daniel Leguizamón, Juan David Rubio, Holman Álvarez, Melissa Vargas, Santiago Botero, Benjamin Calais, Ricardo … Read more

Joshua White’s SixOfOne
As always, it was inspiring to play with Joshua White this weekend at the Blue Whale in LA and Dizzy’s in San Diego, in this case with his band SixOfOne along with Stephanie Richards, Dean Hulett, Dan Schnelle and Josh Johnson. Joshua kept the music super open and it was wonderful to stretch out with these great improvisers.

Puentes Telemáticos / Telematic Bridges 2018
I’m excited to co-lead the Telematic Bridges course for the second year this coming August. We’ll be working in our studios at UCI with high school students from Santa Ana High School, connecting them telematically with similar age students in Manizales, Colombia. It’s inspiring for me to see what they will do in the telematic space and to expose them to … Read more

Interconnections for Peace
It was wonderful to collaborate with so many great artists and technicians on our 3-way telematic concert Interconnections for Peace on the evening of June 8 – or the afternoon of June 9 for those in Seoul! Mark Dresser, Nicole Mitchell, Stephanie Richards and myself were in San Diego; Yoon Sun Choi, Jane Ira Bloom, Matthias Ziegler, David Taylor, Satoshi … Read more

Festival de la Imagen 2018
I was sorry to not be able to travel to Manizales, Colombia this year after having done so the past 3 years in a row to perform on the Festival de la Imagen, but fortunately I was able to “beam in” to perform on a concert telematically with my wonderful collaborators there. Juan David Rubio (drums) and I were performing … Read more

Downbeat review of new trio CD
Somewhere In The Upstream, my latest trio CD on Clean Feed Records with Chris Tordini and Dan Weiss, and dedicated to Yusef Lateef, received a nice review in the May 2018 issue of Downbeat magazine. “Three master improvisers—Dessen on trombone and computer, bassist Christopher Tordini and drummer Dan Weiss—collaborate with help from a computer that acts both as an electronic roadmap … Read more

Telematic conference at Stony Brook University
I just returned from a conferenced on network music at Stony Brook organized by Sarah Weaver called Network Music: Artistic and Technological Strategies for Public and Private Networks, where I presented a new paper on telematics (working towards an essay to publish eventually…) and performed/presented as part of a group panel organized with Sarah, Mark Dresser, Matthias Ziegler, Benjamin Burger … Read more

Nathan Hubbard’s Skeleton Key Orchestra
It’s always a pleasure to be part of the Skeleton Key Orchestra, a beautifully utopian project led for what seems like forever by my friend Nathan Hubbard, pictured here when we were a few years younger. The concert this week in San Diego featured a huge ensemble and Nate’s music, as always, was multilayered, kaleidoscopic and totally unpredictable.

New trio CD on Clean Feed
I’m happy to announce that Clean Feed Records just released my newest trio CD, titled Somewhere In The Upstream. The music is dedicated to my former teacher, Yusef Lateef (1920-2013). This concert-length composition takes the form of a “scorestream,” in which score notations are displayed on screens for the improvisers to interpret, shifting with each performance. I wrote it for … Read more

Quintet concerts and press
I recently enjoyed two concerts in SoCal with a new quintet featuring my trio bandmates Chris Tordini and Dan Weiss as well as special guests Nicole Mitchell and Joshua White. We played on Oct. 26 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on a split bill with Nicole Mitchell’s “When Life’s Door Opens,” and then on Oct. 27 in San Diego, on … Read more

Puerto Rico Benefit Concert
Our benefit concert for Puerto Rico hurricane relief was a beautiful concert and also raised $2,880! It featured many fantastic musicians including some of my faculty colleagues at UC Irvine as well as guest artists. I played on a set with Nicole Mitchell, Mark Dresser and Joshua White, and among other things we played a new piece I wrote for … Read more

Concerts with the Mark Dresser 7
Just enjoyed 3 concerts back east playing Mark’s fantastic 7tet music with Marty Ehrlich, Nicole Mitchell, Joshua White, David Morales Boroff, and Jim Black. It was great to see so many friends at the Stone in NYC, Real Art Ways in Hartford, and the Magic Triangle Series at UMass, Amherst (pictured here, photo by Maurice D Robertson). We’re also playing … Read more