Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Lina Allemano Four: Vegetables

Lina Allemano Four: Vegetables

By Troy Dostert
March 1, 2021
View read count

Trumpeter

Lina Allemano

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Lina Allemano is one of those artists whose boundless creativity requires numerous outlets for its adequate expression. Her Ohrenschmaus trio is a hard-driving unit that possesses a tenacious energy but somehow leaves room for adventitious excursions. The group's Rats and Mice (Lumo Records) was one of 2020's most intriguing releases. She's also an intrepid innovator on her instrument, particularly renowned for using a range of mutes that expand the options available for her artistry, heard to fine effect on her solo release, Glimmer Glammer (Lumo, 2019). And she's an unfailingly sympathetic colleague; witness her work on Proof (Lumo, 2021), a joint effort with electronic improviser

Mike Smith

saxophone
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Smith, which highlights her uncanny listening ability as she and Smith respond almost telepathically to each other's gestures. But Allemano's longest-lasting project has been her eponymous quartet, as the Lina Allemano Four has served as the ideal vehicle for her unique musical vision since 2003.

On Vegetables, the group's latest, Allemano's knack for writing crafty pieces that obviate the distinctions between composition and improvisation is fully evident—as is her keen understanding of how to channel the skills of her bandmates. Saxophonist

Brodie West

clarinet

" data-original-title="" title="">Brodie West, bassist

Andrew Downing

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Downing and drummer

Nick Fraser

drums
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Nick Fraser have worked with Allemano in this ensemble since 2005, and it shows, as each brings an intuitive mastery of Allemano's concept, enabling the group's collective result truly to exceed the sum of its parts.

The album's opener, "Onions," presents a bait-and-switch of sorts, as a perky riff reminiscent of

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts" opens the track, but it quickly becomes clear that a head-solo-head approach isn't at all in the cards. Indeed, Allemano's writing trends sharply away from this conventional jazz clich��, as she's much more interested in seeing how the mutual interactions that unfold in each piece help shape it into something distinctive. The outcome is never where one expects to find it. Preparing for surprising detours and digressions is critically necessary for appreciating Allemano's music. Instead of revisiting the opening theme, "Onions" takes a number of twists and turns through a feisty group improvisation that somehow holds together despite its occasional centrifugal tendencies, finally ending with a tightly constructed sequence of descending phrases from West and Allemano that bring the piece to a brisk conclusion.

It's hard to determine if there's a logic to the song titles aside from their connection to the album's horticultural theme, but each does add its own flavor to the mix. "Beans" is built around short, clipped phrases from all four musicians, with Downing and Fraser especially noteworthy in jettisoning the role of "rhythm section," aiming instead for well-placed contributions that merge wonderfully with those from West and Allemano. The pulse remains present, but it's a refracted one, bending as the piece develops rather than straightjacketing the music with fixed time.

"Champignons" has a different feel entirely, with an understated lyricism at its core, proof that for all of her maverick tendencies, Allemano is not without her occasional melodic charms. Even so, the group's prevailing ethos remains one in which the magic is discovered more obliquely, through the course of the conversation itself. "Leafy Greens," the album's closer, embodies this well, as somber abstraction and a fleeting theme carry the track into a funky midsection, only then to recede as the group turns back upon itself, to find its purpose once more through the subtle and elusive exchanges that make up the bulk of this delightful release.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Onions; Beans; Champignons; Brussel Sprouts, Maybe Cabbage; Oh Avocado; Leafy Greens.

Personnel

Lina Allemano

trumpet

Brodie West

clarinet

Andrew Downing

bass

Nick Fraser

drums

Album information

Title: Lina Allemano Four, Vegetables | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Lumo Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

This Bitter Earth
< Previous

New Releases and Birthday Shoutouts ...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.