Los Angeles, CA – September 1, 2021 – Angel City Arts kicks off the 14th Annual Angel City Jazz Festival October 1 at Downtown Los Angeles’ home for avant garde performance, REDCAT at Disney Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 at 8pm with the Mark Dresser 5, followed by the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio at 9:30pm. Info and tickets are available at https://angelcityjazz.com/event/mark-dresser-5-jeremy-ledbetter-trio/.
Mark Dresser is a Grammy nominated, internationally renowned bass player, improviser, and composer. At the core of his music is an obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic, musical, and expressive possibilities of the contrabass. He has recorded over 150 CDs including ten CDs as composer/bandleader, five solo recordings, a DVD, and his most recent solo album Modicana (2017). From 1985 to 1994, he was a member of Anthony Braxton’s Quartet. He has also performed and recorded music with Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Dave Douglas, Osvaldo Golijov, Gerry Hemingway, Lei Liang, Bob Ostertag, Joe Lovano, Roger Reynolds, Henry Threadgill, Dawn Upshaw, and John Zorn. Since 2007 he has been deeply involved in telematic music performance and education. He was awarded the Shifting Foundation Award in 2015 and 2018, and the 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award. He is Distinguished Professor of Music at University of California, San Diego.
His band for this gig includes Chris Speed (John Zorn, Tim Berne, John Hollenbeck) on clarinet and tenor, Michael Dessen (Nicole Mitchell, Myra Melford, Geri Allen) on trombone, Joshua White (Alex Cline, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Dwight Trible) on piano and Mark Ferber (Lee Konitz, Norah Jones, Billy Childs) on drums.
Forged in a cauldron of raging, inspiring contemporary jazz, the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio pushes the boundaries of jazz and world music, providing an undiluted display of rampaging energy and captivating musicianship. Audiences must exercise caution. People who see this band are rarely the same again. If the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio were an inanimate object, it would be a runaway train. Jeremy Ledbetter has been creating genre-bending original music since forming the Caribbean Latin jazz outfit CaneFire in 2004. Since then, he has worked closely with an international array of artists that includes David Rudder, Eliana Cuevas, the Larnell Lewis Band, Aquiles Baez, Alexis Baro, OKAN, Rinse the Algorithm, Patricia Cano, and more.
The Jeremy Ledbetter Trio sees Jeremy joined by Juno award nominated drummer Sarah Thawer (George Watsky, Jon Batiste, Sheila E.) and renowned electric bassist Rich Brown (James Blood Ulmer, Vernon Reid, Dapp Theory, Steve Coleman), who offer the perfect counterpart to Ledbetter’s iconoclastic energy at the piano. The Trio’s debut album Got a Light?, released in 2018, has been described as “a controlled explosion of big ideas and compelling musical storytelling.”
For more information on the Angel City Jazz Festival and to purchase event tickets please visit http://www.angelcityjazz.com/.