The work of Canadian trumpet player Lina Allemano has been delighting lovers of improvised music for the past few years. However, Glimmer Glammer is her first solo album. It was recorded after the death of her collaborator and friend Justin Haynes. Allemano threw herself body and soul into this solitary undertaking in order to better live this mourning.
Although some moments on the record are tinged with sadness, the emotion that dominates listening to Glimmer Glammer is joy. On the opening track, the pleasure she took in embroidering around a pattern that sounds like old New Orleans jazz is palpable. The same goes for the other tracks on the album on which she indulges with obvious happiness in sound explorations of all kinds, using continuous breathing or various unusual techniques, such as the tin of metal cookies into which she plays her trumpet on the very sweet “Shimmer”.
The pièce de résistance, however, is “One Man Down”, which she dedicates to the memory of her friend. First of all, she plays – with a particularly warm sound – a melody that evokes those played by soldiers for their fallen comrades-in-arms. Then, after a more exploratory passage, she puts her trumpet aside and takes up this melody again, whistling as if to indicate that despite the trials, life can go on. Comforting.
