Brian Allen w/ Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey – Synapse

Braintone

Synapse, the fifth release by Texas-based trombonist Brian Allen on his own Braintone Records, features two of today's most intuitive improvisers: tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey. A studio session recorded in Brooklyn, this album demonstrates a wealth of responsive interplay and intricate interaction across eight collaboratively composed pieces.

Stints with Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Satoko Fuijii, Michael Formanek and Roswell Rudd, among others, fill Allen's resume. Previous recordings have featured him playing solo, as a duo with either bassist Reuben Radding or keyboardist Jacob Koller and as a member of the absurdist cover band,
Sketchy.

Allen's accomplices need no introduction. Ubiquitous saxophonist Tony Malaby claims a burgeoning discography that speaks volumes. Tom Rainey has been a fixture for over two decades on the New York scene; his contributions here are as fresh and inventive as any he's committed to record.

The spontaneous improvisations that make up Synapse are marvels of empathetic rapport. The trio vaults seamlessly but suddenly from one approach to another, navigating a broad dynamic range: restrained silences, somber avant blues and Ayler-esque gospel yield to erratic metric funk and unfettered free-bop.

During impetuous moments, Allen and Malaby spar with Rainey in a fitful game of cat and mouse. While the horns dovetail around one another in playful jest, Rainey acts as instigator. Endlessly pushing and prodding them, he rarely stays locked into a groove before modulating into another tempo. With an uncanny ability to generate infectious rhythms from the most abstruse of phrases, he alters them with sporadic variation. Although the trio operates as a collective, when Rainey launches into a salvo of percussive frenzy, the horns have little choice but to concede. Allen and Malaby periodically hold the line, plying long tones and glissandos in defiance, but Rainey's perseverance typically draws them into the fray.

Leaving out the rattles, bells and other assorted ethnic percussion he occasionally uses when accompanying Tim Berne, Rainey instead plays a stripped-down drum kit. Revisiting the propulsive and precise attack he
perfected in the early nineties, Rainey channels the spirit of Billy Higgins and Roy Haynes. Exploring a wide range of dynamics, his delicate statements find him playing with mallets while the horns weave breathy whispers around his accents.

Allen is a discursive and lyrical player, and an excellent foil for Malaby. Exceedingly versatile, Malaby is as capable of tender euphonious lyricism as he is fervently expressive exclamations. Malaby tempers his more extreme outré tendencies, but Allen still extricates the tenor's exploratory side. Together, they make a synchronous pair. Malaby's breathy, dulcet explorations are complemented by Allen's slurred whinnies and fractious phrases. When Allen ratchets up the intensity level with brassy post-bop angularity and turgid,
gutbucket bleating, Malaby expels waves of sound, swirling and churning with serpentine energy. Frequently interlocking during their circuitous journeys, they offer each other symbiotic support.

As Allen's first release to feature high profile musicians, Synapse is a splendid addition to his discography and a winning example of well-balanced and equitable free improvisation.

~ Troy Collins