At the Fridman Gallery in New York City, double bassist Mark Dresser and flutist Robert Dick performed together. In the 1980s, Dick and Dresser began performing together, either as a duo or with different musicians. The audience had the opportunity to view Alina Grasmann’s House of Spirits art show, which ran from October 29 to December 6, prior to the performance.
“Magical realist paintings investigate modernist architecture, mixing the architectural aspects of individual locales with their history,” the gallery said of Grasmann’s work. Nearly every seat in the gallery was occupied as Dick and Dresser began to perform. The duration of the concert was roughly fifty-two minutes. Dick played the piccolo, bass flute, and a flute with a Glissando Headjoint—a modified headjoint he invented that enables controlled glissandi—during the performance.
He used a variety of extended methods, such as air noises, key percussion, glissandi, and multiphonics. When playing the double bass, Dresser used a variety of methods, including as two-handed tapping and percussion sounds, using both his fingers and different bows. “Mark and I first improvised together in the 1980s, performing multiple times as a duo,” Dick said in response to an email inquiring about the partnership following the performance. With the addition of drummer Gerry Hemingway, we grew into a trio. With the addition of pianist Denman Maroney, we formed a quartet, which we dubbed Tambastics to reflect our passion for musical color and timbres.
