Dallas, 10.10.2024

Firelight Trio is the rubric for Austin saxophonist Joshua Thomson (Atlas Maior) performing with Oak Cliff siblings Aaron Gonzalez (bass) and Stefan Gonzalez (drums). Tonight they were at Full City Rooster in Dallas; Saturday night, Joshua and Stefan will be in Fort Worth at the Grackle Art Gallery with Drew Phelps on bass.

It was the first time I'd heard the Gonzalez sibs in a small group that had worked together previously since the days when they performed with their late father Dennis in Yells At Eels, and it was immediately noticeable how much more open the forms they played were than in that earlier unit. When I mentioned this to Aaron, he said, "If [Joshua] had brought a tune, we'd have played that," but it seemed to me that with Firelight, it's the interplay between the musicians that is the focus. 

All three players have fertile musical imaginations, and it was fascinating to observe how they spontaneously communicated as the set unfolded, each one taking the lead at different times, all of them listening and responding to each other's ideas, conducting a three-way conversation that ebbed and flowed, with dynamics that shifted from whisper level to explosive intensity. The Gonzalezes have been playing together since childhood, and their communication on the stand is as telepathic as one might expect from such a lengthy relationship. Watching Aaron and Joshua, you could see them taking time to listen and find their way into each other's ideas. Stefan has always played like a force of nature, but more and more lately I'm seeing him adopt a lighter touch and leave more space. 

The three made use of every tool at their disposal: Aaron switching between arco, pizzicato, playing with the bow's stick, tapping on the body of the bass; Stefan using sticks, brushes, and beaters, a series of inverted metal objects on his floor tom, rubbing sticks together, damping and releasing a cymbal after striking it to hear different resonances, occasionally unleashing his fast right foot (evoking memories of numberless versions of Yells At Eels theme "Document for Toshinori Kondo"); Joshua switching between mouthpieces to lend his alto either a brighter or darker tone, playing a wooden flute, whistles, and a Chinese multi-reed instrument called a hulusi. At one point, the confluence of Aaron's pentatonics and Joshua's skirling Near Eastern melodies conjured a kind of desert blues. The Gonzalezes' wordless vocalizations lent the music a primal, earthy quality.

I regret I'll miss the Grackle show because I scored weekend passes for my wife and myself to the Hay Festival Forum Dallas, but I'll be back at Full City Rooster on October 19, when Sawtooth Dolls (Paul Quigg and Gregg Prickett) perform live soundtracks to silent films.