Fort Worth, 11.3.2025

A stacked bill at the little gallery that could in my precinct? Yes, please!

Last night, the Grackle Art Gallery played host to Houston's Latin rock-free jazz juggernaut El Mantis, playing the opening engagement of an East Coast tour, with support from chanteuse Lily Taylor and a duo improvisation by Stefan Gonzalez on vibraphone and Garrett Wingfield on alto sax.

Stefan said he hadn't been playing much since returning from touring Europe with The Young Mothers, but his playing belied that as he laid down pointillistic melodies on his stripped down vibraphone (which has a damper but no resonator) with his trademark high energy. Garrett phrased around him, evoking the spirits of Ornette Coleman and Julius Hemphill in their hometown (we'd been discussing Shirley Clarke's documentary Ornette: Made In America before they started) and even throwing in a little Johnny Hodges vibrato (Garrett's been sitting in with a friend's big band). A thoroughly satisfying set from two ace improvisers.

Lily started out regaling the audience with memories of two festivals she played this year: Rochester, NY's Avant Garde a Clue II, and Miami's Psych Fest III, held at Churchill's Pub there. Lily's been playing improv and Great American Songbook duo gigs with bassist Aaron Gonzalez (who was present but not performing), but on this occasion, she focused on original songs from her two albums (2014's The Ride and 2023's Amphora). Her classic chanteuse's vocal chops, gorgeous melodies, and dreamlike electronic sound beds create a total sonic environment worth revisiting. Lily, Aaron, and Stefan will be among the musicians backing free jazz saxophonist/poet Elliott Levin in two sets -- a trio and a quintet -- at Dallas's New Media Contemporary on December 21.

I've seen El Mantis in both trio and quintet configurations, and they recently performed some dates as a quintet without saxophonist Danny Kamins but with bassist Chris Lopez joining the lineup. For this tour, they're a quartet with Chris but minus the keyboards and percussion that appear on their current CD, El Lago de los Ciegos. (Last year's double disc El Mantis Live! is a handy document of the band's evolution, replete with Eric Dolphy and Albert Ayler covers.)

Previously, Andrew Martinez had switched between guitar and bass, but now he can devote himself to the six string axe full time, playing knuckle busting voicings and reaching for the ineffable in his solos as well as playing unisons or harmonized lines with Danny. Chris's bass carries the structural weight of the tunes with lots of punch and definition that was almost overpowering in the Grackle's confines. Angel Garcia is a loud drummer (who backed off his attack for the room) and a powerful flamenco style singer, but sometimes it was hard to hear him over the bass. Angel said later that they have an 85 dB limit when they play the Kennedy Center (!) later on this tour. Hopefully they'll be able to comply... and make all their announcements in Spanish.

Having recently completed his "I Beat Cancer's Ass" solo tour (which included a duet with noise guitarist Angel Drake at a Dallas show Lily booked), Danny is looking great and playing with invention and fire. He shredded a reed while demonstrating that his circular breathing facility and multiphonic glossolalia are intact. Standout tunes included "Leche, Pan y Balas" (which translates as "Milk, Bread and Bullets," inspired by a radio news story, Angel said), Danny's dedication to a mentor "For Wendell," and set closer "Sin Alma." I look forward to watching this great band continue to evolve.

About Gregg Prickett

Dallasite Gregg Prickett is my favorite guitarist, full stop -- none of that weak-ass "from around here" bullshit -- but his artistry has been documented less fully than many lesser lights. My intent here is to assemble as much evidence as possible for the curious listener who doesn't live in North Texas.

Here's video of a set he played recently at Fort Worth's Grackle Art Gallery under the rubric Habu Habu, which can mean Gregg solo (acoustic or electric) or in a collaborative trio with Drew Phelps on bass and Alan Green on drums. It's refreshing to hear an improvising guitarist who uses harmonic motion, as well as drones and noise, in his spontaneous compositions, and employs electronic effects to augment his musicality rather than just overwhelming the listener's senses. He possesses classical dexterity and jazz harmonic knowledge, but all of his tools are directed at expression, not showy chops-mongering.

Gregg also performs in Trio du Sang, an acoustic outfit with virtuoso violinist Andrew May and percussionist Bobby Gajardo.

Garland native Gregg started his career in 1984 with Dallas surf rock band the Buena Vistas. He had formative experiences playing bass for guitarist-songwriter Bill Longhorse in the lounge/swing outfit Mr. Pink, ironic jazz-rock unit Shanghai 5 (with whom Gregg recorded a CD, Under a Tent, in 2005), and the Immaculates, which mixed live instrumentation with lo-fi samples. A five year sojourn in Chicago included a stint with doomy noise rockers Rabid Rabbit which resulted in an eponymous 2009 LP. Gregg also played with Denton/Dallas scene mainstay Wanz Dover in space rock unit The Falcon Project and garage rock juggernaut Black Dotz, with whom I first saw Gregg play back in 2011.

Gregg began developing his current concept of free playing after moving to Oak Cliff in 1998, influenced by the Charles Mingus bands of 1964 and 1975, the "classic" John Coltrane quartet and the late-period Trane exorcisms Ascension and Om. He formed the original Monks of Saturnalia around that time, with Drew Phelps on bass and a revolving door of drummers and horn players. Gregg was the last guitarist to play in pioneering harmolodic drummer-composer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, and was onstage for Shannon's very last gig, at Oak Cliff's Kessler Theater, on July 7, 2012, when the setlist included Gregg's composition "He Walked Into the River," dedicated to free jazz martyr Albert Ayler.

Meeting the  Gonzalez siblings, Aaron and Stefan, Oak Cliff natives who'd grown up hearing punk through one ear and free jazz (via their father, musician-broadcaster-educator Dennis Gonzalez) through the other, led to Gregg joining ritualistic metal-jazz trio Unconscious Collective with them and releasing two albums under that rubric for Dallas indie Tofu Carnage. Good luck finding either of those records now, or Far from the Silvery Light, the sole artifact of They Say the Wind Made Them Crazy, a moody experimental duo with Sarah Ruth Alexander.

Those three records, all currently out of print but findable online, are the best documents extant of Gregg's music. However, there are plans for a recording and vinyl release by the fiery current lineup of Monks of Saturnalia, with a three horn frontline of Steve Brown, Dale Fielder, and Aidan Sears alongside Gregg, Drew Phelps, and drummer Alan Green. Currently, the only Monks recording online is this one from 2004, released digitally in 2022. All I ever need is something to look forward to.