Dallas, 9.20.2024

Groglydyte Progglebot's Birthday Conundrum was the Aaron Gonzalez-coined rubric for guitarist-composer Gregg Prickett's 59th birthday shindig at Full City Rooster, the congenial South Dallas coffee spot that's been the site of several of my favorite performances I've witnessed this year. Gregg pulls a sizable (I hate to say "for this kind of thing") and enthusiastic audience for his various musical projects, a number of which were showcased tonight.

The classical-improv-world music hybrid Trio du Sang started things off with a triptych of their rhythmically motile, folklorically melodic flights of fancy, highlighted by Andrew May's virtuosic violin and Bobby Fajardo's propulsive hand drumming, with Gregg's classical chops coming to the fore as he held down the harmonic underpinnings and spun off rapid runs. Andrew and Bobby would return later to augment the Monks of Saturnalia.

By way of introduction, Gregg allowed that he's not much of a rock fan ("To me, classic rock is Albert Ayler"), but his recent duo doings with Jonathan Horne (who plays a Mosrite autographed by Nokie Edwards of the Ventures) reminded him of an earlier project where he played surf music and Johnny Cash tunes with guitarist John Georgotis. John joined Gregg to essay a few on dueling steel-strings: an original tune they wrote "100 years ago," the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run," "Folsom Prison Blues" sung by John, and "Long Black Veil" sung by Gregg in the manner of Leo Kottke ("like geese farts on a muggy day;" methinks he sells himself short).

Sawtooth Dolls is Gregg's electric guitar duo with Professor Paul Quigg (Superman's Girlfriend/Nervebreakers/Vibrolux), whose honorary degree Gregg awarded just today. Their set was the freest improvisation of the evening, with Paul shifting chords like Hendrix near the end of the Woodstock jam (albeit with less velocity) and playing lines with what sounded like an octave pedal, while Gregg spun webs of lines around him and added contrasting colors and textures.

The high point of the evening, for me, was the performance by the aforementioned Monks of Saturnalia, the vehicle for Gregg's Ayler and Mingus-influenced jazz compositions. These folks were playing on the regular in Denton before Covid. One night I skipped to go write postcards to voters in North Tarrant (and got interviewed by NPR for my trouble), figuring I'd catch them the next time. Then came the lockdown, proving that one should never take any next time for granted.

These days, besides Gregg and Denton bass stalwart Drew Phelps, the Monks lineup includes the dual tenors of veteran Steve Brown and fiery newcomer Nathan Collins up front, with Alan Green behind the trap set. On this occasion, they were augmented by Andrew May on violin and Bobby Fajardo on hand percussion for a set that included three compositions, opening with Gregg's Ayler tribute "He Walked Into the River," which the composer played with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society at the drum titan's last-ever concert performance back in 2012. 

On "No Salt," Drew played some deep blues on arco before Gregg took what I call his "Otis Rush solo," taking time to breathe between splatters of splintered notes. Alan Green is the perfect percussionist for this ensemble, subtly swinging, keeping time on his ride. On "Hika," a hip waltz for a wolf who once lived with Gregg, you could see the guitarist and drummer locking eyes as Prickett played a chordal run, climbing chromatically to a blues release. Also notable were the way the rhythm section adjusted their dynamics for May's slashing violin solo, and Green played the quietest drum solo I've ever heard (with counterpoint from Fajardo) before the final recapitulation. 

Gregg says he wants do to more with the Monks, and is writing material for a new trio with Collins and Green. I look forward to hearing, and I'll be back at Full City on October 10 to hear Austin saxophonist Joshua Thomson (Atlas Maior) in a trio with Aaron and Stefan Gonzalez. Kudos to Full City's Michael for creating a welcoming environment for left-of-center sounds and those of us who love them.