Dance and Music Reviews : LACE and Composers Open Sonic Series

Jazz influences dominated the agenda Friday night at LACE when two local percussionists, David Johnson and Alex Cline, gave tandem presentations of mostly original compositions. The event opened the summer installment of the Sonic Series--an ongoing joint effort by LACE and the Independent Composers Assn.

Johnson started off the evening with four compositions, two of them his own. His unpretentious approach produced refreshingly competent, honest readings.

Dean Drummond’s cacophonous “Different Drums for Different Strokes” (1988) utilizes a setup of drums, cymbals, electronics and microtonal “stroke rods”--large bars that emit high pitches when rubbed. Johnson kept the plethora of loud crashes under control, creating an engaging hyperactive sound world.

His own soothing, tonal compositions--both for solo vibraphone--revealed jazz elements, though very personal statements. Another vibraphone piece, Sheila Silver’s minimalist Theme and Variations for Bowed Vibraphone (1980), less eventfully made use of half notes and pentatonic scales.

Cline’s amplified quartet--himself, Wayne Peet on keyboards, Jeff Gauthier on violin and G. E. Stinson on guitar--combined simple melodies and multi-textures in the vein of the jazz/rock group Weather Report. Certain New Age sensibilities of the music tended to lull, while more provocative virtuosic elements retained interest.