Performer Notes

Full performer name: Mark Dresser/Frances-Marie Uitti.
Personnel: Mark Dresser (contrabass); Frances-Marie Uitti (cello).
Producers: Mark Dresser, Frances-Marie Uitti, Jeff Gauthier.
Recorded on June 8, 1996 & March 11, 1997. Includes liner notes by Elliott Sharp.
Personnel: Frances-Marie Uitti (cello).
Liner Note Author: Elliott Sharp.
Contrabassist Mark Dresser and cellist Frances-Marie Uitti are both respected members of the avant-garde and improvisational music establishment. Dresser, who is based in Brooklyn, was a member of Anthony Braxton's quartet for nine years and has also worked with Robert Dick, Bob Ostertag, John Zorn, and others, while Uitti has collaborated with John Cage, Luigi Nono, Brian Ferneyhough, and Iannis Xenakis. Both players make great use of extended string techniques. Dresser's approach is a grab bag of battuto and col legno techniques, as well as "double glissandi" and creative amplification; Uitti, even more interestingly, uses two bows at once on her cello, permitting her to play four-voice chords and contrasting simultaneous dynamics. The seven improvisations that make up this program are consistently fascinating and frequently lovely. The title track occasionally sounds like two people trying to tune to each other, but passes repeatedly into passages of subdued beauty, and on "Montebell," Uitti's artificial harmonics swoop over Dresser's 5/8 digressions to stunning effect. Though perhaps not for the faint of heart, this is "instant composition" of very high quality. ~ Rick Anderson

Professional Reviews

The Wire (3/00, p.55) - "...Their improvisation is fluid, evanescent and elusive...There's warmth and beauty here..."

Down Beat (7/00, pp.74-5) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Offers sensitive interplay and ear-opening extended technique. These duets for low strings will appeal primarily to devotees of improvisational new music..."

JazzTimes (8/00, p.103) - "...Music that ranges from lyrical to thunderous. Each rises to the challenge of playing with the other with creativity and imaginativeness. Hopefully, this is what low string playing in the new century will be like."