Concert Review: J.D. Allen Trio at the Village Vanguard

Through several veins of the jazz saxophone tradition, the J.D. Allen Trio strikes a variety of moods. The trio, which contains saxophone, bass, and drums, can alternatively sound austere or bluntly powerful due to the absence of a comping instrument like a guitar or piano. During their performance on Thursday, February 4th at the Village Vanguard, the entire set's structure was as appealing as each individual piece.

Saxophonist J.D. Allen is in the habit of playing continuous sets, with each song linking to the next. The transitions can be sly and subliminal, or jarringly abrupt. Joined by bassist Gregg August and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, who substituted for Rudy Royston for the duration of the Vanguard run, Allen treated a series of moods as if they were musical themes. Each slipped away only to reemerge later, fleshing out a framework that turned out to be a piece in itself.

The set opened with a buoyant swing that Sorey pushed to the brink of becoming frenetic. Allen's style brought to mind a young Sonny Rollins, although with a degree of level-headed control. Before long the music evolved into what more resembled late John Coltrane, with exotic, urgent melodies, and drumming whose purpose was to supply intensity more than pulse.

At the center of the performance was a charmingly simple version of "Body and Soul," whose last cadence gave way to a sudden shift in temperament, during which the trio launched into a loose and roiling chatter. From this point on, the changes in mood occurred at a faster rate, alternating between agitated collective improvisation, faintly traditional swing, and angular grooves.

By the end of the performance, as the varying styles surfaced alongside each other, there was a sense that each had been occurring simultaneously, as if the set were a sonic mural.