LINA ALLEMANO - Glimmer Glammer
Lumo Records CD Lumo LM 2019-9
Lina Allemano, solo trumpet, mutes, materials
Recorded at Union Sound Company, Toronto, July 8-10, 2019
One must say that solo trumpet is an unusual format in any musical genre and one that calls for considerable nerve. Allemano, though, has seen her own successful way through the commerce of music and would not be fazed by a mere challenge. She avoided the ordinary step of NYC after Edmonton and Toronto (she is Edmonton born) and stayed with the Canadian scene, building her own arena, expanding that into Berlin recently and disdaining work in the US of A.
You will hear all kinds of music herein: what may sound like a brief history of bop – bebop, hard bop and post-bop interplayed with expressions of free improvisation in a wide-open format and using a range of techniques which cover the orthodox, the exploratory, the unconventional and indeed bizarre, even alien ways of playing.
No matter the skills used to produce her groans, laments, rattles, splutters and whimpers, and some of that might be she rather than the trumpet. No matter the perfectly executed control of her distinctive breathing and its studied pauses, every nuance is distinct because every note is recorded acoustically: no electronics, no capacitors, diodes, inductors, resistors or transistors to be found herein. Everything is pure sound, but not just for the sake of it. The elegant synthesis of such techniques as hard but fluent playing, with her sophisticated command of tone, reveal a refined but wide range of approaches to playing.
Unusual though this format for a solo trumpet may be, it won’t task you too much, if at all, as it is just over 35 minutes long. I found it to be quite exquisite and had to play it again immediately after my first hearing, intrigued by its various moods, moving between pulsating vitality and murmured susurration. It’s a very good album indeed and will repay your indulgence many times over.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Lumo Records CD Lumo LM 2019-9
Lina Allemano, solo trumpet, mutes, materials
Recorded at Union Sound Company, Toronto, July 8-10, 2019
One must say that solo trumpet is an unusual format in any musical genre and one that calls for considerable nerve. Allemano, though, has seen her own successful way through the commerce of music and would not be fazed by a mere challenge. She avoided the ordinary step of NYC after Edmonton and Toronto (she is Edmonton born) and stayed with the Canadian scene, building her own arena, expanding that into Berlin recently and disdaining work in the US of A.
You will hear all kinds of music herein: what may sound like a brief history of bop – bebop, hard bop and post-bop interplayed with expressions of free improvisation in a wide-open format and using a range of techniques which cover the orthodox, the exploratory, the unconventional and indeed bizarre, even alien ways of playing.
No matter the skills used to produce her groans, laments, rattles, splutters and whimpers, and some of that might be she rather than the trumpet. No matter the perfectly executed control of her distinctive breathing and its studied pauses, every nuance is distinct because every note is recorded acoustically: no electronics, no capacitors, diodes, inductors, resistors or transistors to be found herein. Everything is pure sound, but not just for the sake of it. The elegant synthesis of such techniques as hard but fluent playing, with her sophisticated command of tone, reveal a refined but wide range of approaches to playing.
Unusual though this format for a solo trumpet may be, it won’t task you too much, if at all, as it is just over 35 minutes long. I found it to be quite exquisite and had to play it again immediately after my first hearing, intrigued by its various moods, moving between pulsating vitality and murmured susurration. It’s a very good album indeed and will repay your indulgence many times over.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
