Channeling Breath to Trace the Contours of Sound Dennis González’ rich tapestries of experimental jazz and sonics expand with Nights Enter. BY BRANDON KENNEDY
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few decades back, on a Saturday morning, an unexpected visitor arrived at the Oak Cliff doorstep of one of Dallas’ foremost jazz trumpet players. The man knocking at the door happened to be the principal trumpet player of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and he announced that he was leaving his post there to pursue a monastic life in Spain. He was dropping out entirely and offered Dennis González the opportunity to buy his custom trumpets before he departed. A C trumpet immediately caught González’s eye (and ears). But he knew he and his wife were in no position to spend the money on such a horn, so he had to decline. Somewhat bizarrely, the gentleman insisted and accepted the $75 cash they had—well below the instrument’s value. Dennis spent many years learning the particular character of this trumpet (having played a B-flat trumpet for many years), his breath and phrasing finding its place as his tone aligned with the intervals and timbre of this individual vessel. Once a horn finds its owner, a calling emerges from within, your sensibility and approach finding the balance as the trumpet eventually becomes an extension of your voice. Several years later the man returned from his unsuccessful spiritual sojourn and came to collect his horn. Having spent at least three years forging a relationship with what was now his instrument of choice, González refused to relent. The man persisted, got aggravated, and was eventually asked to leave, without the horn. Ataraxia is a state of serene tranquility and calmness, an apt descriptor for González’ jazz trio. Plaintive tones and questioning phrasing often round out the way González’s enters and exits within a tune. Never bent on pushing an insistent melody or remaining front and center, González allows plenty of breathing room between repeated queries, variations of approach, and within open song 36
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structures. This allows players to solo (such as the exuberant bowed charge by Drew Phelps on the evocative Sita on Nights Enter) while the rich revolutions of Derek Rogers’ sonics act as a changing foundation for each musician to negotiate in turn, whether by means rhythmic, melodic, or improvisational. Jagath Lakpriya’s steady rhythm and spare ornamentation move the songs along with a steady tabla beat. The trio sings joyfully together on their debut double-LP Ts’iibil Cháaltun on González’s own daagnim records, released in 2017. The recently released Dark Night opens with some eerie atmospherics, erratic bells and shakers that get set in motion by Phelps’ post-bop repeating electric bass line. Along with Lakpriya on tabla and djembe, Phelps and González make up the core of Ataraxia