Lina Allemano: Canons
Lumo Records

In 1983, the iconoclastic Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester Bowie released his terrific double-album All the Magic, one half featuring small group performances and the other adventurous solo improvisations. Forty years on, trumpeter Lina Allemano's done something similar in following Pipe Dream, an early 2023 recording by her Lina Allemano Four outfit, with Canons, a self-produced solo set that shines an even stronger spotlight on her, despite including contributions from others. Had she coupled the two releases into a single package, it would have seemed even more like some modern-day variation on Bowie's project.

Despite the fact that both trumpeters are as comfortable playing within the tradition as outside of it, the comparison between the two forward-thinkers shouldn't be pushed too far. Whereas his solo trumpet pieces on All the Magic are freewheeling and even sometimes wacky (see “Thirsty?”and “Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck”), Allemano uses the classical canon as the connecting thread on her new release and, in writing for trumpet and different ensemble combinations, presents canons in two, three, or four parts. While Bowie's performances are pure improvs, Allemano's combine composed and improvised material. In addition, he's alone on his recording; she collaborates with others throughout. One features the trumpeter alone (though tripled), four others augment her with guests; and a further four include her BLOOP partner Mike Smith, who subjects Allemano's playing to live processing and is credited as co-writer on the pieces.

Canons are often playful in their “follow the leader”-like character, and Allemano's are no exception (in notes accompanying the release, she acknowledges as much, stating, “I started writing canons as a fun and challenging compositional game of sorts”). As experimental as Canons is and as serious as she is about it, it's anything but lugubrious. The impression quickly forms of an artist deriving great pleasure from the project, just as the listener derives an equal amount of satisfaction from her playing. Look no further than the dynamic “3 Trumpet Canon” for her abilities in that regard, the piece a showcase for her assured attack (on open and muted trumpet), imagination, and polyphonic invention. As the scene-setter shows, she can play with a pure, clean tone but isn't shy about getting blustery and boisterous and generating breathy textural effects.

Allemano, cellist Peggy Lee, and clarinetist Brodie West adhere to a more straightforward treatment of the canon form in “Bobby's Canon” when not interspersing the performance with unconstrained solo excursions. In tracks that come closest to conventional small ensemble performances, “Butterscones” and “Twinkle Tones” augment her with guitarist Tim Posgate, double bassist Rob Clutton, and analog synth player Ryan Driver, the canon idea clearly evident in both cases in the musicians' staggering of melodic phrases. As in “Bobby's Canon,” we also see the players move away from the canon structure for audacious improv episodes. The only track not recorded in Toronto is “Canon of Sorts,” which she and trombonist Matthias Müller laid down in Berlin, her other home base. With only two instruments in play, it's easy to monitor the canon-like interactions between them, as well as the moment when they too leave it behind for wild improv exchanges.

With Smith on board, the BLOOP tracks “Shadows,” “Wilds,” “Moons,” and “Ponds” present her trumpet multiplied, mutated, and electronically splintered into dense, convulsive swarms of activity. During “Wilds,” one of the horns even suggests the anguished roar of an elephant, a move Bowie would no doubt appreciate were he still with us. Both Pipe Dream and Canons appear on Allemano's artist-run Lumo Records label, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. Even with so many years of music-making under her belt, she remains as adventurous as ever. Long may that continue.

November 2023