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| Home > BASS SHEET MUSIC > DOUBLE BASS QUARTETS Music for Four Basses |
DRESSER Unveil (solo bass) |
| Detailed Description |
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Track list: 1. Lureal 2. Unveil 3. Clavuus 4. Undula 5. Kathrom 6. Cabalaba 7. Entwined 8. Pluto 9. For Scodanibbio 10. Lomus 11. Bacahaonne (for Israel "Cachao" Lopez) A Review of Unveil, by John Eyles, January 2006 The pleasures to be derived from this album come from three sources: the playing, the music, and the recording technology. For years, Mark Dresser has experimented with different systems of pickups and microphones, combined with use of a volume pedal, in order to capture and control as much sound as possible from his instrument. Add in his original techniques such as playing the whole of a string—both above and below the stop—and two-handed string tapping, and the result is far fuller and denser than one would expect from one man playing one bass; at times one could believe three or four players are at work. For the first few listens, one is intrigued to know exactly how Dresser is producing the sounds. However, that soon fades as one is increasingly swept along by the (largely improvised) music. It would be easy to dwell solely on Dresser’s technique rather than the music itself, so please take it as read that everything he plays is technically jaw-dropping. On the opening track, “Lureal”, Dresser demonstrates his two-handed approach as torrents of notes pour out; the man must have fingers of steel. Next up, the title track is the only one that is edited and multi-tracked; it is both mellow and dramatic as Dresser uses his bow to generate notes from the extreme ends of the bass’s spectrum. It shows off those mikes and pickups to full advantage; the sound produced is very rich because of the overtones they manage to catch. [Not wishing to come over all techi-nerdy, but it is fascinating to listen to this album while displaying one of those sound spectra—poetically named “Ocean Waves”, “Fire Storm” and such—that come as standard on your Windows Media Player. Personally, I usually find them irritating at best. Here, they enable you to see the overtones while you hear them. Be amazed by how much high frequency information a bass can generate… or just watch the pretty dancing spikes. Either way, God bless technology!] Despite Dresser’s innovative playing methods, his bowing repeatedly steals the show. My personal favorite is “Undula”, which uses bowing to establish and sustain a prolonged polyphonic drone, the kind of music you feel in your internal organs as much as hear. Such is its beauty and physicality that my only complaint is that it should last much longer than its five and a half minutes. “Cabala” acts as a short interlude of (almost) conventional bass playing; Dresser lays down an intricate, repeated bass pattern that could almost be the basis of a rhythm track. On the longest track (nine minutes), “For Scodanibbio”, again the bowing is most noticeable and appealing, combined with string-tapping to produce a multi-layered sound collage. Recordings of solo bass are rare for good reason; the format is extremely demanding of player and listener alike. To count the fully satisfying solo bass recordings I have heard, I need less than the fingers of two hands. Prime exponents include the likes of Barry Guy, Peter Kowald, William Parker, and Barre Phillips. Mark Dresser deserves a place in that distinguished list. Not only is he tireless in his search for technical innovations and refinements, he also harnesses them to produce music full of energy, variety, and humanity. |
