Dallas, 2.1.2025

The first concert of the year at Full City Rooster was a slam dunk: a pair of musicians' musicians, composing live before our very eyes, and the full house -- 40 people when they started, with more filtering in as they played -- included the likes of Paul Quigg, Gerard Bendiks, Mike Daane, Lily Taylor, Aaron and Stefan Gonzalez, Bobby Fajardo, and Nathan Collins. Guitarist Gregg Prickett and bassist Drew Phelps had played in a duo format twice before, once at Fort Worth's Grackle Art Gallery and once at Full City, and on this occasion, they worked their way up to (by my count) "Improvisation #15," plus an asynchronous deconstruction of the Chantays' surf hit "Pipeline." 

On this occasion, Prickett ran his electric guitar through a stereo output to small Gibson and Fender amps (the former of which broke down during the performance) with a looper, delay, and volume pedal in his signal chain; his acoustic stayed on the table where he'd laid it. Phelps brought his 5-string Fender to the party as well as his standup, and employed distortion on both axes at different times to stunning effect. 

The duo opened with some electric chamber jazz, arpeggiated guitar chords and arco bass reminding one at times of the group Oregon. Next came a desert soundscape with chords that shimmered like heat rising from hot blacktop. Phelps strapped on his Fender and kicked on his distortion pedal, summoning visions of John Wetton parachuting in like the Christ figure in '70s midnight movie fave Greaser's Palace. 

The duo splattered shards of notes as a bored young man seated against the wall contorted himself as far as he could from the performance, seemingly doing everything in his power to avoid looking at the players, in marked contrast with the rest of the audience. There was an episode where Prickett played suspended chords that seemed to imply questions without answers; a metaphor for our historical moment? Phelps followed up with a mutated blues walk. 

Prickett asked the audience if we needed a break. As the response was generally negative (a couple of listeners got up and left), they continued with my favorite piece of the evening, in which Prickett droned on a single staccato note while Phelps responded with sympathetic feedback from his big dog kennel and spiky, fuzzed out arco scrapings. Prickett played echo-laden chiming harmonics that sounded like bubbles rising from underwater, leading into the aforementioned "Pipeline." The long set closed with a meandering minor blues, with Prickett playing lots of diminished chords. An immensely satisfying performance.

Afterwards, Phelps and Nathan Collins discussed Monks of Saturnalia business. Hopefully, that ensemble, which plays Prickett's Mingus and Ayler-influenced jazz compositions, will reconvene soon. In the meantime, Full City co-owner Michael Wyatt says Stefan Gonzalez will be bringing a group (presumably Trio Glossia?) there in March. Can't hardly wait.