Dallas, 5.11.2024

Listen: The history of creative music is made up of moments, whether it's The Rite of Spring causing riots after its Paris premiere, Charlie Parker running the changes to "Cherokee" in a Harlem chili parlor, or Ornette, Cherry, Charlie, and Billy initiating "the battle of the Five Spot." If you weren't there, you missed it. 

Less revolutionary perhaps, but on a similar plane in the realm of North Texas jazz, was Trio Glossia's set at New Media Contemporary in Dallas's Exposition Park last night. For comparison, I have to go all the way back to the night in 1978 when I was watching Miles's '50s pianist Red Garland sit in with Marchel Ivery's quartet at the Recovery Room on Lemmon Avenue and on the break, Charles Moffett's sons Charles, Charnette, and Codaryl came in and blew the roof off the joint with a effusion of '60s-style energy music, then said thank you to the band and disappeared into the night. 

I use the much-maligned term "jazz" with intention; Trio Glossia's leader-vibraphonist-drummer Stefan Gonzalez is explicit in wanting to align this band with that tradition, rather than, say, European free improvisation, or the school of non-idiomatic improvisation that emerged from Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening foundation in Houston.

Across the street, Stefan's sibling Aaron was performing in Ochre House Theater's production of Matthew Posey's Patti & Theo, which runs through May 18. After timely pause to await latecomers (a necessary evil in a time when music fans are unwilling or unable to buy advance tickets to shows), Trio Glossia kicked off their set for a small but fervid audience. This was the most intense and focused performance I've seen by this unit to date. They've been working hard to build a repertoire of material, and rehearsing relentlessly, along with playing gigs in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, as well as locally, all to riotous acclaim.

Their ability to craft and develop engaging musical themes, and transform them in performance, is a strong suit, as is their multi-instrumental versatility. Stefan attacks both of his instruments with a mixture of brute physicality and total control, while Joshua Miller brings youthful vitality and joyous release to his performances on both the trap set and Ayleresque tenor sax. When he dials back the intensity, Joshua inhabits a more lyrical, Ben Webster-esque territory -- as many fire-breathing freeblowers tend to do (that vibrato!). Bassist Matthew Frerck is a stunning virtuoso with highly advanced ideas who covers the full range of the bass -- arco, pizzicato, harmonics, even a percussive attack -- and serves as a strong melodic voice as well as providing the music's harmonic foundation. Some of the music's finest moments came during intervals where two or three instruments were playing in melodic unison -- a nice contrast to the often explosive character of their three-way extemporizations (that seem controlled by a single intelligence).

Following Trio Glossia, we lucky few were treated to a shorter set by Houston-based El Mantis, who recently (the last three weeks) expanded from the trio heard on the intriguing CIA Records release El Mantis II from earlier this year to a quintet, adding Mark Medina on congas, bongos, and flute, and Jeremy Nuncio on keyboards. Their sound is evolving from the dark mystery of the record to a more extroverted Latin-rock sound, fueled by Afro-Cuban rhythms with Danny Kamins' ecstatic free jazz saxophone as the icing on the cake. 

Kamins is a superb technician who gave ample voice to the circular breathing and multiphonics he worked on during the pandemic lockdown (documented on the solo Retainer cassette for UK-based label Sound Holes). I was pleasantly surprised to recognize guitarist-bassist Andrew Martinez from the shadowy and mysterious duo Ak'Chamel, who blew minds at The Wild Detectives a few weeks back. While Nuncio's keys added Bitches Brew-like atmosphere and doubled a heavy riff to good effect, they also obscured drummer Angel Garcia's passionate vocals, and I would have enjoyed being better able to hear the interplay between the trap set and the conguero (not to mention Medina's flute when the band was rocking out). Looking forward to hearing this band again when they've had more opportunity to integrate the new players. But even with a subpar sound mix, their music percolates with energy and excitement.

Kudos to James Talambas and the whole New Music Contemporary team for creating a space to hear vital, challenging music evolve in real time. If you are a fan of such, you owe it to yourself to hear both of these bands when you can. Catch 'em on the rise, and you can tell your friends that you heard 'em back when.