Despite a coveted, tenured full professorship at UC San Diego, Mark Dresser seems always on the prowl for gigs. As he explained to me while he was in Amherst for the second Solos & Duos Series concert, he just loves to play. Although he is a committed educator and a gifted composer, he loves to perform more than anything else. Dresser inaugurated the S&D Series six years ago with a startling performance with fellow bass player Mark Helias (The Marks Brothers). That was when Dresser taught part-time across town at Hampshire College. Over the years, Dresser has suggested various duos (Denman Maroney, Patty Waters) to me, but he only had to mention trombonist Roswell Rudd as a partner, and the deal was sealed.
With the death of Albert Mangelsdorff, Rudd is arguably the most important living trombonist in improvised music. And one of the best. Rudd’s work with Archie Shepp, Sheila Jordan, and Steve Lacy, and his knee deep involvement with the creative tumult of the 60’s (JCOA, Carla Bley, Cecil Taylor, NY Art Quartet) has cemented his long-term status. His early emphasis on the compositions of Thelonious Monk, and his lifelong championing of the work of Monk’s contemporary, Herbie Nichols, has been a blessing to jazz. But after a hiatus from the jazz spotlight that lasted almost two decades, (he was playing in the house band at the Granit Hotel in the Catskills for some of it), Rudd has returned to creative music with fire (and chops) intact.
Rudd and Dresser arrived October 15th, two days before the gig, to prepare for two workshops at Hampshire College the next day. Dresser’s successor at Hampshire, the talented saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, invited Mark to teach/lead his Tuesday night jazz ensemble. Marty asked Roswell to speak to the Hampshire community about his recent collaborations with musicians from Mali (MaliCool), Mongolia (Blue Mongol), and Puerto Rico (El Spirito Jibaro).
A third educational activity materialized when Dr. Billy Taylor, who was supposed to lecture the Lively Arts class about jazz, had to leave campus unexpectedly. (Taylor was in town for the annual FAC Billy Taylor Residency, which featured the young saxophonist Miguel Zenon and his quartet.) I was able to convey a bit of Prof. John Jenkins’ desperation, and although they were reluctant to do it, (Roswell was not feeling great, the bread was a little light, it was right before the gig), it turned out well. For one, we discovered at 5:30 instead of 7:30, that my friend’s bass amp needed a shaped connector we didn’t have. We had time to snag a bass amp (thanks to Jeff Holmes), they got to sound check and warm up early. (The class was cool. Mark was the straight man, trying to pry open a few minds; Rudd was the imp, the contrarian, interested in the big gesture.)
The show was magnificent (watch for it on ACTV and UVC-TV 19). Great interplay, plenty of space for both improvisers, beautiful sound. Though it morphed continually, Dresser’s playing was more groove oriented than anything on the duo’s fine Clean Feed recording, Air Walkers. I have heard and seen Dresser before, so perhaps I was less surprised by the sounds coming out of his instrument (extended techniques and special bass construction), than some of the other 180 folks in the room. But I was struck by how well those sounds were integrated into the performance. Dazzling.
Rudd sounded great. Especially with trombone, that’s the first thing I hear. His tone was beautiful, round, accurate, strong. We had Hank Berry at the control of sound reinforcement, but Rudd projected to the last row of Bezanson without breaking a sweat. But he really wasn’t feeling well. In his first interaction with the audience (both Rudd and Dresser were consummate hosts throughout), Roswell apologized for being sick and talked about the energy a live audience gives a sick performer. (He wasn’t kidding. My friend Eli, whose father played with Roswell in that Catskill band, reported that Roswell had to miss some gigs in Europe after his UMass concert because of his health.)
We ate a hearty and scrumptious meal in the Great Room at Jonathan and Cheryl’s along side a roaring fire. We toasted Steve Lacy and Roswell welled up with emotion. I had the satisfying thought that we are providing good work for great musicians.
Written by Glenn Siegel