Drew Gress

by Joslyn LayneNew York bassist Drew Gress became increasingly visible in contemporary improvised music throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the late '80s, he co-founded the quartet Joint Venture, which released three albums on Enja spanning 1987-1994. Later, Gress led his own N.Y.-based quartet, Jagged Sky, who released their debut, Heyday, in 1998 on Soul Note. The late '90s also found Gress performing and recording in Paraphrase, an improvising trio with Tim Berne and Tom Rainey. Paraphrase released two CDs during the 1990s on Berne's Screwgun label: Visitation Rites in 1997, and 1999's Please Advise. Gress has performed across Europe; Asia; and North, Central, and South America. He has served as artist-in-residence at University of Colorado-Boulder and Russia's St. Petersburg Conservatory, and has received grants from Meet the Composer and the NEA. In addition to the groups already mentioned, Gress also performs in many other projects, including Erik Friedlander's Chimera, the Fred Hersch Trio, the Don Byron Quartet, and Dave Douglas' string group, which released an album on Soul Note entitled Convergence in 1999.