Search - Mark Dresser :: Dr Caligari

Restrained, haunting improvised chamber music

05/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"well, if you do know what you're buying, then this is a great purchase. i also came upon this cd by chance but i was happily surprised by the strange beauty i found within. after listening to this album by itself (it's difficult to match it up exactly with any videos of the movie, especially since there are different running times and projection speeds depending on the version of release) i looked more into the music of each member of the dresser/maroney/douglas trio. dave douglas, who has become very prominent in near-mainstream jazz now, obviously has a strong grasp on jazz history because the way he jumps back and forth in time with his mix of older muted blues style and modern bill dixon-like slurring of notes is seamless, and he has increasingly defined his style in this way. denman maroney's amazing prepared piano is lyrical and bizarre, he can bend notes like he's playing an alien instrument something like a mix of a giant fretless guitar and a flute, and suddenly attack with percussive precision in wonderful contrast (i'm listening to the new album "duologues" by dresser and maroney right now - also beautiful and dumbfounding). and mark dresser is one of my favorite bassists, i've yet to be disappointed by any album that he's on. his compositions all encourage the trio to improvise as a group rather than any solos, so each track is very liquid in its structure. there's so much to listen to from just three people, yet they all use the negative space well. that is another reason it is such a good album - like the film, the music offers multiple focal lengths and depths."