feature photo: Manuel Miethe
One band isn’t enough for Lina Allemano’s wide artistic vision. Heck, not even two. Or four, for that matter. Allemano’s Ohrenschmaus is at least the fifth project launched by the Canadian trumpet maestro, in her second home base Berlin. A power trio completed by Dan Peter Sundland (electric bass) and Michael Griener (drums), Ohrenschmaus is another outlet for Allemano’s commanding prowess on trumpet which I previously compared to Wadada Leo Smith and like Smith, the more her technique is exposed, the better it sounds. With only bass and drums behind her, she’s got nowhere to hide, and that’s just fine.
‘Ohrenschmaus’ is German for ‘ear candy,’ a term usually applied to very accessible music. But in the pursuit of the highly edgy, improvisational music, being accessible isn’t a big consideration in Allemano’s world, and her new trio is no exception. The Norwegian Sundland might play an electric bass guitar but he attacks it like a standup bass, thrumming viciously on it and even wielding a bow on occasion. Griener — the only German in this German-based group — largely leaves the muscularity to the other two, as he’s a pretty meticulous drummer who can instinctively find the voids in the overall resonance and fills them with efficiency when he’s not putting in a pulse underneath. For instance, his clipped cymbals pair nicely with Allemano’s sharp jabs on “Year of the Eye.”
The nature of Lina Allemano’s compositions for this set of songs is to set down markers and improvise wildly around them. She, Sundland and Griener have wide sway to take these songs where the mood strikes, kept together by closely monitoring each other’s moves.
If you don’t think only trumpet, bass and drums can get inventive, put an ear on “Geroestet Peanut.” Allemano seems to be performing with another horn at the beginning, but that’s Sundland bowing the upper register of his bass. Then she is making all sort of variations on the theme over Griener’s clanging percussion until she melds in with him by playing false notes, and before long, bass and drums jointly start a rumble together as if it’s coming from one source. Eventually, they arrive at the theme again and by the end it’s slowed down to a calypso.
“Ostee” is an instance where Sundland and Griener act for a time as a regular rhythm section, forming a groove that seems to spring naturally from an opening Sundland/Allemano dalliance. Using a vast arsenal of chops, Allemano leads the group out of that group into a truly nasty drums/bass scrum. “Gruener Schmaus” is where jazz swing makes its only appearance on Allemano’s most melodic tune of the album, and Sundland plays a two-string riff that roughly resembles a guitar role. And “Rats Mice and Everything Nice” is short on notes for the first half where all sorts of peculiar sounds are coming out of instruments, and a bow to the bass guitar harmonizing with Allemano out front during the second half.
Another kind of adventure for the restless Lina Allemano is another adventurous ride for open-minded listeners. No matter which musicians she surrounds herself with, she will thrive on the razor’s edge of jazz.
Lina Allemano’s Ohrenschmaus’s debut album is now on sale through Lumo Records. Order Rats & Mice here.
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