As anyone who's paid attention to DFW music in the past few decades, Mazurek has been aware of Gonzalez’s music since the 1980s, but he didn’t meet the legendary avant-garde jazz musician until a couple of years before he died in March 2022 at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
They had what Mazurek describes as a spiritual bond. They were both musicians and visual artists and felt like long-lost friends. They’d write back and forth, Gonzalez in Dallas and Mazurek in Marfa. Gonzalez even created what Mazurek called a "beautiful talisman," and sent it to him shortly before he died.
Mazurek also made a connection with Gonzalez’s children, Stefan and Aaron, who are renowned musicians in their own right. A few years ago, Mazurek played a festival with Stefan.
“We also really click just as humans and find music spiritual,” Mazurek says of the younger Gonzalez generation. “It’s like I’ve been playing with these guys forever. The first time was just magic, and now they have invited me to be part of the legacy band and be able to play his music.”
Mazurek will be joining the Gonzalez sons along with new and returning artists such as Danny Kamins, Drew Phelps, Gaika James, Jawwaad Taylor, Joshua Miller and Lily Taylor to celebrate and perform 40 years of Gonzalez’s music.
The show kicks off at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 28, at the Behind the Screen of the Texas Theater. Tickets for the show are still available to purchase.
“It’s going to be a celebration,” Mazurek says. “I’m really looking forward to this. It’s almost like a ritual, a rebirth of his music.”
This rebirth of music will also occur with the help of a live album of the performance, which will be recorded Sunday evening and possibly published by a Texas-based record label, Aaron Gonzalez says.
Of course, it all depends on the performance Sunday evening and how the recording turns out, but Aaron Gonzalez is optimistic it will be good, similar to last year when the Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band first formed to jam at The Kessler Theater.
That first time, Aaron Gonzalez says, the idea was to preserve their father’s musical legacy. Their father had started to compile and organize his sheet music and archives shortly before he died.
“The Kessler event was beautiful, just a freestanding tribute to my father, and I definitely believe my dad would have been very proud of the way his legacy was being preserved and very happy with his performance,” Aaron Gonzalez says. “We were very happy, and all the musicians were amazing and the sound was great, and we really got it right with the repertoire that we considered for the concert.”
That repertoire will be similar for the Sunday night show at Texas Theatre, but with a slightly different lineup, Stefan Gonzalez says.
"This time we have nine people to scratch this itch to continue and not only celebrate my dad’s music but also play these things that we co-wrote with him.”– Stefan Gonzalez
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Stefan says that the Texas Theatre was a perfect place to host this year’s event given their family’s connection to Oak Cliff. Their father hosted an after-school program, La Rondalla, next door at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center for several years.
“Whenever we did the first legacy band, it was a big celebration of his music. Me and Aaron played with him for so many years, and we’re not able to do that for the last few years of his life,” Stefan Gonzalez says. “It’s such a high-octane energetic music, and we started missing that music. This time we have nine people to scratch this itch to continue and not only celebrate my dad’s music but also play these things that we co-wrote with him.”
Though new faces like Mazurek will be joining in the celebration on Sunday, returning musicians such as Dallas vocalist Lily Taylor will also be jamming with the band as part of the rebirth.
Taylor first heard about Dennis Gonzalez’s family trio Yells at Eels through a college friend who had performed on a bill in Oregon with Stefan and Aaron in their hardcore band Akkolyte. She would eventually meet them at the music event Outward Bound Mixtape Session at The Crown & Harp shortly before she started booking the two-stage venue.
Taylor says that over the years she has performed a vocal improv piece with Aaron and got to know Aaron and Stefan when she joined in a few improv ensembles for Outward Bound Mixtape Sessions at The Crown & Harp and later at RBC in Deep Ellum.
She also worked the door for many events that Dennis Gonzalez presented in Oak Cliff. She was invited to sing at his funeral and to join the Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band in 2023 for the show at Kessler Theater and now the upcoming show on Sunday at Texas Theatre.
“Dennis' approach to improvisation has greatly influenced my personal practice,” Taylor says. “It's been a joy to get to know his older work better, and to be able to sing along with the horn lines. The material is challenging and joyful to perform all together. Dennis' shows were a mix of music, visual art and storytelling — little windows into his world of music and perception. He is greatly missed. I hope we can capture some of the magic for everyone to enjoy.”
