We’re thrilled to host JAZZ REFRACATIONS 2026 on Friday 10/23 featuring: Mark Dresser Gradience Quartet + Myra Melford’s Splash Trio
Schedule:
8:00pm – Mark Dresser Gradience Quartet
9:15pm – Myra Melford’s Splash Trio
Tickets:
$25.00 - General Admission
$15.00 - Students/Seniors
Limited parking onsite on first come, first serve basis. Additional parking spaces available on Casitas Ave and Minneapolis St. Safe and walkable neighborhood!
Following their stunning world premiere at The Stone in NYC in September 2025, Mark Dresser’s Gradience Quartet makes its highly anticipated debut at the Angel City Jazz Refractions. Bringing together a strikingly unconventional instrumentation, the ensemble fluidly blurs the boundaries of genre and traditional musical parameters.
Yet, beyond the structural innovation of their compositions, the defining force of this quartet is their profound emotional and improvisational synergy. Their performance promises a rare, captivating chemistry where distinct sonic worlds merge with breathtaking intimacy and power.
Mark Dresser is a Grammy nominated, internationally renowned bass player, improviser, and composer. At the core of his music is an obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic, musical, and expressive possibilities of the contrabass.
He has recorded over one hundred-fifty CDs including ten CDs as composer/bandleader, seven solo recordings and a DVD. His solo recording, “Tines of Change” was listed in the “Best Recordings of 2023” by Downbeat Magazine. His latest, solo recording In the Shadow of A Mad King features a duo with the late great poet Jerome Rothenberg, (Tzadik 2024).
Pianist and composer Myra Melford, and her trio, Splash will perform music from their recent Intakt Records release, Splash. Their project is the latest installment of Melford’s ongoing body of work inspired by and engaging with the work of Cy Twombly, entitled, An Extravagant Joy (for Cy Twombly).
Melford doesn’t attempt to directly translate Twombly’s work in sonic form; instead, she approaches her own musical language via techniques and processes using action words – “Splash” among them – to propel both compositions and improvisations, discovering means to capture the impression of spontaneity in concrete forms, and the energy and physicality of the gestures that made them.
Pianist, composer, bandleader and professor Myra Melford has spent the last four decades making original music that is equally challenging and engaging. Culling inspiration from a wide range of sources including the blues of her native Chicago, literature by Eduardo Galeano, visual art and architecture, innovative jazz artists such as Cecil Taylor and Henry Threadgill, and Eastern philosophy. She’s explored an array of formats, among them solo-piano recitals, deeply interactive combos and ambitious multidisciplinary programs.