MICHAEL DESSEN :: composer/improviser :: trombone/computer

Michael Dessen is a composer-improviser who performs on the slide trombone and computer. Drawing on experience across a wide range of contemporary forms, he creates his own unique blend of music and collaborates with some of today's most exciting innovators.

In the Michael Dessen Trio, he performs on trombone and laptop, along with Tyshawn Sorey on drums and Christopher Tordini on bass. Clean Feed Records has just released the trio's 2008 album, Between Shadow and Space, following Dessen's 2007 leader debut, Lineal, which featured Mark Dresser, Susie Ibarra, Vijay Iyer, Terry Jenoure and others performing his acoustic compositions.

Dessen is also a member of Cosmologic, a longstanding collective quartet whose fourth album of original music has just been released by Cuneiform Records. Since the mid-1990s, Dessen has also collaborated regularly on projects exploring interactive technology and, more recently, telematic (distance/internet) performance. He is currently completing a solo album of trombone and live electronics.

He has contributed articles to publications such as The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue (Wesleyan University Press), the online journal Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes Critique en Improvisation, and Musicworks magazine. His scholarship focuses especially on the role of African American traditions within late-twentieth century experimental music worlds.

In addition to studies with Yusef Lateef, George Lewis and Anthony Davis, and collaborations and mentorships with other renowned composer-improvisers, Dessen also spent many years freelancing in diverse contexts, from avant-garde new music ensembles to salsa bands. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University of California, San Diego, where he received a Ph.D. in Critical Studies and Experimental Practices from the Music Department. Equally important, Dessen has been schooled by numerous musicians outside of academia.

He currently teaches at the University of California, Irvine, where he is on the core faculty of an innovative new graduate music program in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology.

For information on Michael Dessen's courses at UC Irvine, please visit http://music.arts.uci.edu/mdessen/

"Lineal features trombonist Michael Dessen in an accessible session - accessible to readers who follow the mainstream as well as to those who prefer the leading edge.... Musically, Dessen gives the trombone a good workout, demonstrating its flexibility as well as its lyrical qualities. He communicates with a rich tone and fluent animation... Recommended, Lineal provides many surprises through a program with wide appeal."
- Cadence, Jim Santella

"[Lineal is] some terrific music, mostly hard-hitting and groove-based but quite varied..."
- Exclaim, Nate Dorward

"The music of Cosmologic is initiated by individual members and then doggedly worked and reworked until its internal logics are available for genuinely creative improvisation.... More than impressive."
- The Wire, Brian Morton

"The eight tracks on Lineal are intricate affairs, packed with detail and referencing a wide range of traditions and developments in contemporary jazz. In fact, they're so packed with detail that listening to the whole album in one go is quite a challenge, but a highly enjoyable one."
- Paris Transatlantic, Dan Warburton

"III (by Cosmologic) doesn't so much stand as a document of the history of jazz as a brochure for the infinite varieties of modern improvisation.... Incredibly rewarding... Sure, it takes a little work but, for every cerebral exercise the listener is required to work through, there's a funky-as-all-hell payoff."
- One Final Note, Daniel Spicer

"Just like the name of the album, Lineal, the musical outburst of ingenious creativity is straight, to the point, and not in any way watered down by dispensable shenanigans... The music is clean and almost maiden-like in its truth, while never being ensnared by common places or naïve imitation."
- Tokafi, Fred Wheeler

"Dessen thrusts himself into the music with vigor, and plays with a growling, nervy style..."
- Cadence, Frank Rubolino

"Dessen is a clean, ultramodern soloist whose execution, while far from gutbucket, doesn't preclude emotion."
- Jazz Weekly, Ken Waxman