Lina Allemano Four: The Diptychs

Maintaining its biennial release pattern going back to 2021's Vegetables (Lumo Records) and 2023's Pipe Dream (Lumo Records), The Lina Allemano Four once again strikes gold with The Diptychs, another of the group's ventures into its signature territory. With artful, multilayered themes that generate nuanced four-way dialogues, this is music born of the close collaboration that trumpeter Allemano has long championed, and her most accomplished working band is once again in top form.

Built around six relatively compact pieces which expertly find that elusive balance between structure and freedom, The Diptychs relies on the sympathetic predilections of alto saxophonist Brodie West, bassist Andrew Downing and drummer Nick Fraser, each of whom contributes equally to the group's modus operandi, as they have worked in this configuration with Allemano since 2005. Downing and Fraser are adept at toying with the pulse, as they typically do when Allemano's compositions relax a bit and allow the players to find their own way through the pieces' parameters. A case in point is the bouncy opener, "Positive," which departs from its free-bop-inspired theme just enough to open onto a freer section in which Allemano and West can exchange ideas with carefully-controlled abandon. "Resist" carries a martial air, with Fraser's crisp snare leading the way, at least out the outset; it too gives way to a fragmented episode before the piece finally once again resumes its central motif.

The album possesses several emotional registers, with "Negative" revealing the darker side of Allemano's muse. A bracing dissonance with a hint of menace prevails, as Downing's arco guides the piece's shadowy chamber aesthetic until its closing segment, where a tenuous lyricism emerges, offering a glimmer of light. "Scrambled" possesses a similarly mysterious aspect, once again with Downing's arco brooding underneath. Still, this one pulls out of the abyss more determinedly, as a driving energy propels the horns to the surface with some stimulating back-and-forth between Allemano and West. In contrast, a lighter buoyancy enlivens "Coalesce" from the start, with a churning vitality fueled by repeated, dancing patterns that are traded and echoed inventively by each member of the group.

The closing track, "Over Easy," is perhaps the album's best, as it encapsulates the qualities that make Allemano's music so inviting. Supported by a sturdy, hypnotic groove that alternately surges and recedes, the piece has a basic elasticity allowing all four musicians the space necessary to sketch their individual contributions alongside the others. With meticulous attention to craft that still manages to surprise with unexpected detours and digressions, it is a ten-minute tour de force in contemporary composition. Kudos to Allemano and her compatriots in producing another first-rate release, as The Diptychs easily stands among her finest work.