Free Fall series ends on lively note

By Sean Stroud

Trio Glossia performed Nov. 9 at the Bath House Cultural Center to wrap up the Free Fall: Hard Blues and Harmonics Firm Rooted Jazz Series. While past performances have been outdoors, they opted to perform inside in an intimate blackbox-style setup for their final show.

“I don’t have adequate words to really express how grateful I am to everyone who came out last night and to everyone who came out to any of the concerts before,” Stefan Gonzalez said on Facebook. “This is the kind of community I have been dreaming of. This series might be over, but the music continues.”

Gonzalez plays vibraphone and drums in Trio Glossia. When they reached out to ask about playing at the Cultural Center, the venue was so on board with the idea that they asked Gonzalez to book a whole series of shows during fall, which became the Free Fall series. 

The first three shows included performances from Trio Glossia, the Shelley Carrol Trio and the South African Heritage Ensemble.

Vocalist Lily Taylor and bassist Aaron Gonzalez kicked off the final evening with a duet performance. Taylor belted out deep, low notes as well as ear-piercing high chords while singing about heartbreak over Aaron’s flowing bass. Aaron showed off just as much range, switching from a groovy plucked bass to bowing chords that mimicked an approaching air raid or something out of one of the Jaws movies.

Aside from the occasional snap from Taylor, Aaron was solely responsible for the pace of their performance, but that didn’t stop him from fitting in flurries of notes while keeping a steady beat. 

Their second song involved a bit of vocal improvisation from Taylor in the form of scat singing while Aaron responded with dialogue of his own from the upright bass.

Trio Glossia took the stage next and started into “To Walk the Night,” a piece written by bassist Matthew Frerck, who enjoyed a minute by himself on electric bass to start it off. 

Stefan joined soon after with repeating sustained vibraphone chords that would make a good theme-song for time travel, while Joshua Cañate frantically swung his brushes all around the drum set, even using the metal-backside of the brush to hit the bell of his hi-hat for some added flair.

Cañate busted out a drum solo while Frerck switched from electric to upright, then the Trio continued into “Dream Travelers,” a tune from their upcoming album. Stefan took over on drums so Cañate could pick up his tenor sax for “For a Phee,” a piece composed by Cañate and dedicated to jazz legend, Joe McPhee. Stefan slipped right into place and started a syncopated groove that involved all parts of the kit. The band also played their recently released songs “Zoomorphology” and “Nerdy Dirty Talk,” which both featured much longer and more elaborate solo and duet sections than their recorded versions. 

Frerck was steadfast as the trio’s backbone, but didn’t miss an opportunity to show off his remarkable technique, like bouncing the bow on his bass to produce triplets or scraping his wrist along the strings to produce a low, atmospheric sound. Cañate made his saxophone cry out like a dying animal and Stefan worked the drums like a fifth limb.

The next performance at the Bath House Cultural Center will be from the Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band on Nov. 29 to celebrate the vinyl release of their Live at the Texas Theatre album.