Mark Dresser
Mark Dresser (born September 26, 1952) is an American double bass player and composer.
Mark Dresser
American jazz bassist, composer.

Alex Lozupone · CC BY 4.0
- Name
- Mark Dresser
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Born
- 26 September 1952
- Occupation
- Musician, composer
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- jazz
- Education
- University of California and San Diego
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Mark Dresser (born September 26, 1952) is an American double bass player and composer.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Mark Dresser (born 1952) is a composer, jazz musician and musician, among other activities, of American nationality. The composer was born in Los Angeles.
Mark Dresser was educated at University of California, San Diego. The composer worked for Hampshire College and University of California, San Diego. The work spans jazz.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Mark Dresser. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1900029 · wikipedia · Mark Dresser
In this article
Biography
Biography
Dresser worked across composer, jazz musician, university teacher and musician. The registers place that work in jazz. This article rests on 90 catalogued compositions, 33 issued recordings, 1 digitised documents and 28 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Mark Dresser • Birthplace — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Born — 26 September 1952 • Genre — Jazz rock, chamber rock • Occupation — Musician, composer • Instrument — Double bass • Years Active — 1970s–present • Label — Soul Note, Knitting Factory, Tzadik, Cryptogramophone, Enja, Clean Feed, Pi, CIMP • Associated Acts — Anthony Braxton, Gerry Hemingway, Arcado String Trio • Website — mark-dresser.com
Career
Career
Dresser was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. In the 1970s, he was a member of Black Music Infinity led by Stanley Crouch and performed with the San Diego Symphony. During the next decade he moved to New York City and became a member of the Anthony Braxton quartet with Marilyn Crispell and Gerry Hemingway. He composed for the Arcado String Trio and Tambastics and for the film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
As leader
As leader
• Arcado with Arcado String Trio (JMT, 1989) • Behind the Myth with Arcado String Trio (JMT, 1990) • For Three Strings and Orchestra with Arcado String Trio (JMT, 1992) • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Knitting Factory, 1994) • Invocation (Knitting Factory, 1995) • Force Green (Soul Note, 1995) • Live in Europe with Arcado String Trio (Avant, 1996) • Banquet (Tzadik, 1997) • Eye'll Be Seeing You (Knitting Factory, 1998) • C/D/E with Andrew Cyrille (Pao, 2000) • Marinade (Tzadik, 2000) • Later with Fred Frith (Victo, 2000) • The Marks Brothers with Mark Helias (W.E.R.F., 2000) • Sonomondo with Frances-Marie Uitti (Cryptogramophone, 2000) • Duologues with Denman Maroney (Victo, 2001) • Reunion Live... at the Guelph Festival with Gerry Hemingway (Intrepid Ear, 2001) • Aquifer (Cryptogramophone, 2002) • Nine Songs Together with Ray Anderson (CIMP, 2003) • Tone Time with Susie Ibarra (Wobbly Rail, 2003) • Time Changes with Denman Maroney (Cryptogramophone, 2005) • Unveil (Clean Feed, 2005) • Airwalkers with Roswell Rudd (Clean Feed, 2006) • House of Mirrors with Ed Harkins (Clean Feed, 2008) • Duetto with Diane Moser (CIMP, 2008) • Starmelodics with Kauffman/Eisenstadt (Nuscope, 2009) • Live in Concert with Denman Maroney (Kadima Collective, 2009) • Live at Lotus with Vinny Golia (Kadima Collective, 2010) • Soul to Soul with Remi Alvarez (Intolerancia, 2010) • Guts (Kadima Collective, 2010) • Synastry with Jen Shyu (Pi, 2011) • Nourishments (Clean Feed, 2013) • Code Re(a)d with Gerry Hemingway (Hopscotch, 2014) • Sedimental You (Clean Feed, 2016) • Modicana (NoBusiness, 2017) • Ain't Nothing But a Cyber Coup & You (Clean Feed, 2019)
As sideman
As sideman
With Ray Anderson • Harrisburg Half Life (Moers Music, 1980) • It Just So Happens (Enja, 1987) • Blues Bred in the Bone (Enja, 1988) • What Because (Gramavision, 1990) With Tim Berne • Sanctified Dreams (Columbia 1987) • Tim Berne's Fractured Fairy Tales (JMT, 1989) • Pace Yourself (JMT, 1991) • Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) (JMT, 1993) • Nice View (JMT, 1994) With Jane Ira Bloom • The Red Quartets (Arabesque, 1999) • Sometimes the Magic (Arabesque, 2001) • Chasing Paint (Arabesque, 2003) • Like Silver, Like Song (ArtistShare, 2005) With Bobby Bradford • Live in L.A. (Clean Feed, 2011) • Live at the Open Gate (NoBusiness, 2016) With Anthony Braxton • The Coventry Concert (West Wind, 1987) • Five Compositions (Quartet) 1986 (Black Saint, 1986) • If My Memory Serves Me Right (West Wind, 1987) • Quartet (London) 1985 (Leo, 1988) • Quartet (Birmingham) 1985 (Leo, 1991) • Willisau (Quartet) 1991 (hat ART, 1992) • Quartet (Coventry) 1985 (Leo, 1993) • (Victoriaville) 1992 (Victo, 1993) • Twelve Compositions (Music & Arts, 1994) • Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993 (hat ART, 1997) • Quartet (New York) 1993 Set 1 (Braxton Bootleg, 2011) • Quartet (New York) 1993 Set 2 (Braxton Bootleg, 2011) • Quartet (London) 1991 04.02 Set 1 (Braxton Bootleg, 2013) • Quartet (London) 1991 04.02 Set 2 (Braxton Bootleg, 2013) • Quartet (London) 1991 04.03 Set 1 (Braxton Bootleg, 2013) • Quartet (London) 1991 04.03 Set 2 (Braxton Bootleg, 2013) • Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993 1st Set (hatOLOGY, 2015) • Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993 2nd Set (hatOLOGY, 2015) • Quartet (Willisau) 1991 Studio (hatOLOGY, 2018) With Dave Douglas • Parallel Worlds (Soul Note, 1993) • Sanctuary (Avant, 1997) With Satoko Fujii • Looking Out of the Window (Ninety-One, 1997) • Kitsune-bi (Tzadik, 1999) • Toward To West (Enja, 2000) • Junction (EWE, 2001) • Bell the Cat! (Tokuma, 2002) • Illusion Suite (Libra, 2004) • Live in Japan 2004 (Natsat Music, 2005) • When We Were There (PJL, 2006) • Trace a River (Libra, 2008) With Gerry Hemingway • Demon Chaser (hat ART, 1993) • Down to the Wire (hat ART, 1993) • The Marmalade King (hat ART, 1995) • Slamadam (Random Acoustics, 1995) • Perfect World (Random Acoustics, 1996) • Johnny's Corner Song (Auricle, 1998) • Chamber Works (Tzadik, 1999) • Waltzes, Two-Steps & Other Matters of the Heart (GM, 1999) • Devils Paradise (Clean Feed, 2003) With Bob Ostertag • Say No More (RecRec Music, 1993) • Say No More in Person (Transit, 1993) • Verbatim (Rastascan, 1996) • Verbatim, Flesh and Blood (Rastascan, 1998) With John Zorn • Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman (Nonesuch, 1988) • Kristallnacht (99 Records, 1993) • Bar Kokhba (Tzadik, 1996) • Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2 (Tzadik, 2002) With others • Laurie Anderson, Strange Angels (Warner Bros. 1989) • Gregg Bendian, Counterparts (CIMP, 1996) • Gregg Bendian, Gregg Bendian's Interzone (Eremite, 1996) • Salvatore Bonafede, For the Time Being (CAM Jazz, 2005) • Eugene Chadbourne, Pain Pen (Avant, 2000) • Alex Cline, For People in Sorrow (Cryptogramophone, 2013) • Nels Cline, The Inkling (Cryptogramophone, 2000) • Tom Cora, It's a Brand New Day (Knitting Factory, 2000) • Marilyn Crispell, The Kitchen Concert (Leo, 1991) • Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway, Play Braxton (Tzadik, 2012) • Stanton Davis, Manhattan Melody (Enja, 1988) • Robert Dick, Jazz Standards On Mars (Enja, 1997) • Paul Dresher & Ned Rothenberg, Opposites Attract (New World/CounterCurrents 1991) • Marty Ehrlich, The Long View (Enja, 2002) • Amir ElSaffar, Radif Suite (Pi, 2010) • Ellery Eskelin, Vanishing Point (hatOLOGY, 2001) • David Garland, Togetherness: Control Songs Vol. 2 (Ergodic, 1999) • Osvaldo Golijov Yiddishbbuk (EMI, 2002) • Osvaldo Golijov, Upshaw the Andalucian Dogs Ayre & Folk Songs (Deutsche Grammophon, 2005) • Sebastian Gramss, Thinking Of (Wergo, 2014) • Burton Greene, Peace Beyond Conflict (CIMP, 2002) • Francois Houle, In the Vernacular (Songlines, 1998) • Jason Hwang, Unfolding Stone (Sound Aspects, 1990) • Steve Lehman, Interface (Clean Feed, 2004) • Steuart Liebig, Pomegranate (Cryptogramophone, 2001) • Frank London, The Debt (Tzadik, 1997) • Russ Lossing, Metal Rat (Clean Feed, 2006) • Joe Lovano, Flights of Fancy: Trio Fascination Edition Two (Blue Note, 2001) • Denman Maroney, Fluxations (New World/CounterCurrents 2003) • Raz Mesinai, Cyborg Acoustics (Tzadik, 2004) • Sato Michihiro, Rodan (hat ART, 1989) • Tisziji Munoz, Auspicious Healing! (Anami Music, 2000) • Simon Nabatov, Projections (Clean Feed, 2015) • Simon Nabatov, Equal Poise (Leo, 2016) • James Newton, Binu (Circle, 1978) • Kevin Norton, Integrated Variables (CIMP, 1996) • Kevin Norton, Change Dance Troubled Energy (Barking Hoop, 2001) • Ivo Perelman, Suite for Helen F. (Boxholder, 2003) • Hot Pstromi, With a Little Horseradish On the Side (Global Village Music, 1993) • Hank Roberts, Black Pastels (JMT, 1988) • Herb Robertson, Elaboration (Clean Feed, 2005) • Herb Robertson, Real Aberration (Clean Feed, 2007) • Mick Rossi, One Block from Planet Earth (OmniTone, 2004) • Ned Rothenberg, Power Lines (New World, 1995) • Bernadette Speach, Reflections (Mode, 2002) • Yale Strom, Klezmer: Cafe Jew Zoo (Naxos, 2002) • Richard Teitelbaum, Blends (New Albion, 2002) • Tiziano Tononi, Strange Mathematics (Splasc(H), 2008) • Eric Watson, Silent Hearts (Free Flight, 1999) • Eric Watson, Full Metal Quartet (OWL, 2000) • Matthias Ziegler, Marsyas' Song (Percords, 1992)
Life and work
Life and work
Mark Dresser was born on 26 September 1952 in Los Angeles. Dresser held the nationality of United States. Dresser was educated at University of California, San Diego. Dresser worked as composer, jazz musician, university teacher and musician. Dresser was employed by Hampshire College and University of California, San Diego. The fields Dresser worked in include jazz. Dresser played the double bass.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1952
Mark Dresser born at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
US.
Country
Los Angeles.
Birth place
Catalogued output
Compositions
The entries below are works composed by the subject, as the institutional registers catalogue them; later performances and commercial recordings of the same music are listed separately. 88 further compositions are catalogued under Dresser's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. A selection is set out below and the complete run may be opened beneath it. Lullaby and Doina — 3 catalogued parts. Describe it either. Is the Prisoner Safe?
The entries follow MusicBrainz
I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)
Air To Mir
Hello, I Must Be Going
Chant for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Fanfare for the Rare Woman
Behind the Myth
Bad News, Jane
Mattress on a Stick
Midnight of Quietness, Recovery of Life
Kind of Nine
Castles for Carter
The complete catalogue · 23
The entries follow MusicBrainz
I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)
Air To Mir
Hello, I Must Be Going
Chant for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Fanfare for the Rare Woman
Behind the Myth
Bad News, Jane
Mattress on a Stick
Midnight of Quietness, Recovery of Life
Kind of Nine
Castles for Carter
At the Fair
AM 2 1/2. ImagE/Contrabass
Butch’s Balm (In Memory of Butch Lacy)
A Simple Melody
II. Death of Angels
Let Them Eat Paper Towels
C / D / E. 2 for Cyrille
Black Arthur’s Bounce (In Memory of Arthur Blythe)
B B J C. downtown, top corner
Floods, Flames, Blades
Embodied in Seoul
Teaching
Dresser taught, and is recorded as university teacher. The work is documented at Hampshire College and University of California, San Diego.
Primary material
Recordings and discography
The discography assembled here shows how Dresser's work has been published in sound, not what Dresser made. 31 sound issues are catalogued, carrying dates from 1989 to 2018. An issue is a published recording, distinct from the composition it carries, from a printed score of that composition and from any single performance of it; none of the entries below is counted in the catalogue of compositions above, and several of them carry the same work in different readings. The 2000s are the densest decade of publication, with 16 issues. The performers and issuing labels are as the discographic register states them; where it names no performer the article names none.
Time Changes
2005
Reunion - Live
At the Guelph Festival
2001
Force Green
1995
Sonic Brotherhood - DTFP Israel 2009
2011
Starmelodics
2009
Play Braxton
2012
Unveil
2008
Duologues
2001
Invocation
1995
Sonomondo
2000
Nine Songs Together
2003
Tone Time
2003
Live in LA
2011
Equal Poise
2016
Eye'll Be Seeing You
1998
Guts
2010
Airwalkers
2006
Synastry
2011
For Three Strings & Orchestra
2004
Later
2000
The Cabinet of Dr
Caligari - Music for the Silent Film by Mark Dresser
1994
Peace Beyond Conflict
2002
Banquet
1997
Arcado
1989
Live At The Open Gate
2018
Duetto
2008
C/D/E
2000
Marinade
2000
Silent Hearts
1999
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- MusicBrainz artist record for Mark Dresser
General reference · MusicBrainz
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1900029: Mark Dresser
General reference · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Mark Dresser”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Authority records
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Colin Larkin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Guinness Publishing. 732/3. 1992. 0-85112-939-0.
- 2.Layne, Joslyn. Mark Dresser. AllMusic.
- 3.Layman, Will. Mark Dresser Seven: Ain't Nothing But a Cyber Coup and You. PopMatters. 28 May 2019.
- 4.Dansby, Andrew. Mark Dresser still the ace of bass. HoustonChronicle.com. 28 February 2019.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
MusicBrainz artist record for Mark DresserMusicBrainz
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1900029: Mark DresserWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,307 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Mark CraneyPerson
- Mark de Clive-LowePerson
- Mark DinningPerson
- Mark DodsonPerson
- Mark DuplassPerson
- Mark E. SmithPerson
- Mark EganPerson
- Mark EitzelPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Mark Dresser?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.