Michael Dessen

Michael Dessen is a composer-improviser who performs on the slide trombone and computer. His music has received critical acclaim in numerous jazz and contemporary music publications, and recorded on labels such as Clean Feed, Cuneiform, and Circumvention. Active in a variety of ensembles as leader or collaborator, he creates music for improvisers and engages new technologies of telepresence and digital networking. Based in California, Dessen has collaborated with Mark Dresser, Myra Melford, Joshua White, Cosmologic and many others, and has also released two albums of original compositions with his New York-based trio that features Dan Weiss and Chris Tordini. His teachers include Yusef Lateef, George Lewis, and Anthony Davis, and he has also been schooled through extensive freelance experiences ranging from salsa bands to avant-garde new music ensembles. In 2006, he joined the music faculty of the University of California, Irvine, where he recently co-founded a new MFA emphasis in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology (ICIT).