July 22, 2012

Dizzy’s @ 98 Bottles

Diane Moser, piano; Mark Dresser, bass

This evening to celebrate their CD, “Duetto.” Our own brilliant bassist, Mark Dresser, continues to wow me with all the gorgeous sounds he creates on his bass.  They played most of the music on their CD, much of which was composed by Diane when she was at a residency at the MacDowell Colony.  Her cottage was in the woods and nearby birds were a prominent feature.  She composed pieces taken from/inspired their songs: “Hello,” “If You Don’t Call Me, Then I’ll Call You,” and “Won’t You Come Out to Play.”  While I enjoyed these I gotta say that Mark’s compositions were the ones that were special to me.  On “Para Waltz" he plays arco so masterfully.  It was sensitive and passionate and I wish I had more words to describe the music and the feeling. On “Mattress on a Stick” he continued with the haunting and ringing arco along with amazing pizzicato.  He creates a plethora of beautiful sounds, not tricky; all of them enhance the music.  It was a beautiful composition performed with style and elan by both Diane and Mark. I particularly like piano/bass duos for instance Charlie Haden with Paul Bley and Lisle Ellis with Paul Plimley. My ongoing gripe is with 98 Bottles.  It looks terrific BUT the noise is irritating: airplanes flying over, dishes rattling and talking both in the venue and in the bar right outside the room. Arghh. Robert Bush review: http://bit.ly/M6mxI3