Drew Gress
Drew Gress | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Trenton, New Jersey | November 20, 1959
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Double bass |
Years active | 1980s–present |
Labels | Enja |
Website | drewgress |
Drew Gress (born November 20, 1959) is an American jazz double-bassist and composer born in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in the Philadelphia area.
Biography
Gress studied at
In 1998, he released his first album as leader, Heyday, with his band Jagged Sky (featuring David Binney, Ben Monder, and Kenny Wollesen).[2] Gress wrote all except two of the compositions.[3] Two years later, he recorded Spin & Drift, on which he also played steel guitar. He recorded material for two further albums – 7 Black Butterflies and The Irrational Numbers – in 2004.[3]
Gress has taught at
Gress has toured Europe, Asia, and South America.[2] Those with whom he has and continues to work include Tim Berne,[4] Uri Caine, Fred Hersch, Don Byron, Dave Douglas, and Erik Friedlander.[2]
Critic John Fordham described a performance by Gress's group as "one of the great jazz performances in Britain in 2002".[5] In 2004, the UK's BBC Radio and London's Guardian selected his quartet's live radio broadcast as Jazz Concert of the Year.[citation needed]
Composition awards include an NEA grant (1990),[2] funding from Meet the Composer (2003).[2]
Playing and composing style
The DownBeat reviewer of Vesper, a collaboration between Gress and the trio expEAR, wrote that the bassist "has exquisite time and a composer's sense of line, a combination that allows him an insightful level of counterpoint in his playing".[6] The DownBeat reviewer of Gress's The Sky inside wrote that he "favors a focused restraint, a sort of concentrated tension that wrings the maximum inspiration from minimal elements, and which maintains a taut severity even when spare free passages burst into angular swing".[7]
Discography
As leader
- Heyday (as Drew Gress's Jagged Sky) (Soul Note, 1998)
- Spin & Drift (Premonition, 2001)
- 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005)
- The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2008)
- And Again with Shims Trio (Deepdig, 2012)
- The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)
As sideman
With Kenny Werner
- Beauty Secrets (RCA/BMG, 1999)
With John Abercrombie
- Within a Song (ECM, 2012)
- 39 Steps (ECM, 2013)
- Up and Coming (ECM, 2017)
With Tim Berne
- Visitation Rites (Screwgun, 1997)
- Please Advise (Screwgun, 1999)
- Pre-Emptive Denial (Screwgun, 2005)
With Uri Caine
- Wagner e Venezia (Winter & Winter, 1997)
- The Goldberg Variations (Winter & Winter, 2000)
- Uri Caine Ensemble Plays Mozart (Winter & Winter, 2006)
With Joint Venture
- Joint Venture (Enja, 1987)
- Ways (Enja, 1989)
- Mirrors (Enja, 1994)
With Yelena Eckemoff
- In the Shadow of a Cloud (L&H, 2017)
- Better Than Gold and Silver (L&H, 2018)
- I Am a Stranger in This World (L&H, 2022)
With others
- Ralph Alessi, Baida (ECM, 2013)
- Ray Anderson, Big Band Record (Gramavision, 1994)
- Lynne Arriale, With Words Unspoken (DMP, 1996)
- Jon Ballantyne, The Loose (Justin Time, 1994)
- Don Byron, Romance with the Unseen (Blue Note, 1999)
- Marc Copland, Night Whispers (Pirouet, 2009)
- Marc Copland, Better by Far (InnerVoice, 2017)
- Dave Douglas, Five (Soul Note, 1996)
- Dave Douglas, Convergence (Soul Note, 1999)
- Ellery Eskelin, Setting the Standard (Cadence, 1989)
- Erik Friedlander, Chimera (Avant, 1995
- Erik Friedlander, The Watchman (Tzadik, 1996)
- David Kane, Machinery of the Night (Magellan, 2006)
- Tony Malaby, Apparations (Songlines, 2003)
- Liam Noble, Romance Among the Fishes (Basho, 2005)
- Jason Robinson, Tiresian Symmetry (Cuneiform, 2012)
- Samo Salamon, Almost Almond (Sanje, 2011)
- John Surman, Brewster's Rooster (ECM, 2007)
- Tom Varner, Martian Heartache (Soul Note, 1996)
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J581700. Retrieved 12 October 2020.)
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(help - ^ a b c d e f "Drew Gress | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ Fordham, John (November 29, 2002). "Drew Gress/ Tim Berne: Vortex, London". The Guardian. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
- ^ Fordham, John (17 October 2003). "Tim Berne's Science Friction, The Sublime And". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ Considine, J. D. (March 2018). "expEAR & Drew Gress: Vesper". DownBeat. Vol. 85, no. 3. p. 58.
- ^ Brady, Shaun (October 2013). "Drew Gress: The Sky inside". DownBeat. Vol. 80, no. 10. p. 54.
External links
- Drew Gress at Allmusic
- Joint Venture Discography at Allmusic