performances | "Drawing Sound" at the Drawing Center

Last night’s Drawing Sound performance at Soho’s Drawing Center on Wooster Street brought together new works in drawing and music by Billy Martin and String Nose, as well as incorporated odors in a “scentstallation” created by Phaedra Martin.

While the images by Martin were projected on the walls, the performers reacted to, improvised on, or played pre-written music  on their music stands .  It wasn’t clear if there were direct intersections between the visual and audio, but the music was masterfully played, including Ned Rothenberg on shakuhachi and Martin himself on percussion. Fung  Chern  Hwei played a very warm, romantic violin, and John Zorn dropped in with his saxophone.

The concert ended with a three-minute, seemingly tightly-organized composition with strong ensemble playing.   The concert seemed a fusion of loft music and the always-energetic, improvisatory downtown scene.

Elizabeth Davis