Bodhi Tree Concerts hosts a 7 p.m. livestream show Saturday, and UC San Diego will be well represented.
Anthony Davis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Grammy-nominated contemporary composer, leads on piano. Mark Dresser joins him on bass, while Michael Dessen plays the trombone.
Both Davis and Dresser serve as professors at UCSD. Dessen is a professor at UC Irvine.
Davis has seen his varied career take him from opera to Broadway. His original work, The Central Park Five, which premiered at the Long Beach Opera Company, winning a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2020.
His recording of X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, released in 1992, earned a Grammy nomination for composition.
He also composed the music for Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. The play’s two parts debuted in 1993.
Dresser, also a Grammy nominee, has been featured on more than 140 recordings, including 30 as a band leader or co-leader. Dresser composed original scores for several classic silent films, including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Once he took the position at UCSD, he focused anew on solo bass performance.
Dessen performs on trombone and computer, composes for improvisers, and explores networked music technologies. As a composer-bandleader, his longest project is the Michael Dessen Trio. He also collaborates with musicians in South America, Europe and Korea.
