Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt performed at Avalon Island.

The Civic Minded 5, Timucua Arts Foundation
and Gallery at Avalon Island presented
a Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt  concert at the Gallery at Avalon Island (37 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801).

The evening consisted of solo mini-sets by Corsano and Orcutt followed by a duet set.

Guitarist Bill Orcutt could be described as a raw, outsider Country Blues guitarist or a radical, Post-Minimalist composer. Or he could be a Noise or No Wave musician gone acoustic to play chestnuts of American Vernacular Music. Checking all these boxes would also lead to a fairly functional description. It’s also fair to say that Bill’s international appeal in the last half a dozen years comes from his singular, dynamic approach with a partly de-stringed and re-tuned acoustic guitar.

Chris Corsano is a drummer who has been at the intersections of free improvisation, noise, and avant-rock musics since the late 1990’s. He has worked with saxophonists like Paul Flaherty, Joe McPhee and Evan Parker; guitarists such as Sir Richard Bishop, Heather Leigh Murray, and Jim O’Rourke; and one-of-a-kind artists like Björk and Jandek.

The moody lighting and improvisational music was inspiring to sketch to leading me to let go of my tried and true methods to get an image on the page.

The In-Between Series where you can expect the unexpected.

The In-Between Series takes place every month on the Monday before each Third Thursday at The Gallery at Avalon Island (39 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, Florida). Thad Anderson’s Sextet performed in January 2015 to kick off the monthly series of New Music. When I hear sextet, I imagined classical musicians with violins, cellos and flutes. This sextet however was all about pure primal new age drumming. A large Critique computer screen was set up in front of the phalanx of drums to display the sheet music.

Ashley Equality Inguanta created an installation stage set that had a small porcelain Virgin Mary with a small vile of perfume or holy water, and rose pedals on the alter and floor. A small rug was set up in front of the alter so that anyone could kneel down if they wanted to. Unfortunately no one stopped at the alter long enough to be included in the sketch.

La Empanada Food Truck was parked in the alley next door, so there was plenty of good food available along with drinks from the Avalon Bar. Sketching to the drums beat loosened up my lines and made me throw washes down with much more vigor.

The next concert at The Gallery at Avalon Island will feature Chris Corsano and
Bill Orcutt on Monday December 28th. The doors will open at 7pm and the
concert will begin at 8pm. All ages are welcome. Click here to check out the event Facebook page for more information.