JD Allen: Toys/Die Dreaming

  Bassist Ian Kenselaar and drummer Nic Cacioppo draw you in immediately on You’re My Thrill, the opener on the latest album from tenor saxophonist JD Allen, the immensely satisfying Toys/Die Dreaming. When Allen enters the fray, with his powerful sound and boundless energy, the effect is riveting. Sax, bass, and drums is a challenging format, but Allen and his latest trio more than rise to the occasion on their second outing, after 2019's Barracoon. I’ve been listening to a lot of late-Fifties Coltrane recently, and I hear echoes of Trane both in Allen’s soulful sound and in the way he constructs his solo statements. The team of Jay Gorney (music) and Sidney Clare (lyrics) wrote You’re My Thrill in 1933, and over the decades, it’s been a favorite blowing vehicle for plenty of saxophonists, including Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Archie Shepp, Benny Golson, and Charles McPherson. Allen and his trio take a fresh attitude towards this standard, and somehow make it sound like it was composed just last week. There’s one more standard in the set, a rapturous crawl through I Should Care, an extraordinarily popular tune from 1944 with music by Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl, and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The balance of the disc is given over to Allen’s robust, blues-oriented originals, plus Red Label, a composition by trombonist Peter Lin. Allen first recorded this song on Lin’s New Age Old Ways, in a late 2018 session self-produced by Lin that included Kenselaar and Cacioppo as the rhythm section. It’s a straight-forward swinger with a late-night bluesy feel, played here with the kind of down-home groove that sounds like they could play until dawn without losing the intensity. Kenselaar and Cacioppo are beautifully matched, with an uncanny relationship that has them utterly in sync with one another and with Allen at the same time. On an Allen original like Die Dreaming, they shift instinctively from a stop-time feel to open swinging and back again, provoking rich declamatory playing from Allen. Toys, a slowly paced and bittersweet ballad, is just one of the standout tracks, with a wistful Allen supported by Cacioppo’s vaguely martial drumming and Kenselaar’s tender bass parts. Another highlight is the closing Elegua (The Trickster). The track opens with a forceful drum solo by Cacioppo, then Allen states the melody with his signature broad tone before Kenselaar joins in to give the piece a firm foundation. Toys/Die Dreaming, a genuine highlight of a horribly dismal year, is heartily recommended. 

Savant SCD 2184; JD Allen (ts) Ian Kenselaar (b) Nic Cacioppo (d); Astoria, NY, January 2, 2020; You’re My Thrill/ The G Thing/ Die Dreaming/ Red Label/ Toys/ I Should Care/ Elegua (The Trickster); 45:05. www.jazzdepot.com

JD Allen: Love Stone

Dexter Gordon, one of the giants of the tenor saxophone, had a habit of reciting lyrics before he’d play a standard. It was his way of telling the audience that the words mattered, and that the story he was about to tell you with his horn was more than just a reaction to the melody and chord changes. Love Stone, the delicious new CD from tenorman JD Allen, operates on the same principle. As Allen informs us in a revealing liner note, he “was kind of mad at [himself] for wanting to do an all-ballad album, “but soon realized that a ballad represents in every human story.” With seriously subdued accompaniment from bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston, plus the crisply understated harmonic support of guitarist Liberty Ellman, this is pretty much Allen’s show all the way. The song selection is carefully considered and sequenced, with such classics as Until the Real Thing Comes Along and Put on a Happy Face. Allen has thoughtfully included selected lyrics in the printed booklet, and he implores us to “[t]hink of it as a dog star to what I was trying to hold on to in each song.” From the sumptuous opening exploration of Stranger in Paradise right through to the smooth swing of Gone With the Wind, Allen’s warmth and compassion are evident in every note. An absolute winner, highly recommended.
Savant SCD 2169; JD Allen (ts) Liberty Ellman (g) Gregg August (b) Rudy Royston (d); Brooklyn, NY, January 9, 2018; Stranger in Paradise/ Until the Real Thing Comes Along/ Why Was I Born/ You’re My Thrill/ Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies/ Put on a Happy Face/ Prisoner of Love/ Someday (You’ll Want Me to Want You/ Gone With the Wind; 44:51. www.jazzdepot.com