(Reprinted from the October 2020 issue of Downbeat magazine)
Tenorist JD Allen crafted the title of his new trio album, Toys (Die Dreaming) (Savant), by mashing up the names of two of his most individualistic tunes on the recording. The first, “Toys,” smolders as a freely melodic rumination, with Allen feeling out impressionistic lines alongside bassist Ian Kenselaar and drummer Nic Cacioppo. The second, “Die Dreaming,” pulsates with rhythmic insistence, while Allen bounces through the head repeatedly, veering now and then into fluttering riffs and distorted overtones. If taken as a dialogue, these two tunes speak of different musical impulses, and they appear on widely separated tracks. So, what’s Allen getting at with the title?
This vexing question leads to interesting observations about Allen’s creative use of harmonic understatement and melodic assertion. Both tracks, different as they are, exemplify the advanced form of musical play that Allen expresses so confidently through his austere compositions and this recently formed, triangulated configuration of players. Given the excitement that breaks through the trio’s serious veneer, however, it’s easy to conclude that the title implies a happy—rather than moribund—demise.
Whatever the title’s metaphoric meaning, the recording—Allen’s second with this trio and his fourteenth as a leader—rings with clarity and intention. For instance, on “The G Thing,” he uses a dulcet rubato phrase as a launching pad for its escalating, swinging exposition; likewise, on “Elegua (The Trickster),” he extemporizes an extended bop composition, birthed from an agile drum solo.
On the album’s three non-originals, Allen hews closer to convention. He sinks deep into a salty blues on trombonist Peter Lin’s “Red Label,” stretches into redolent mourning on “I Should Care” (the only straight-ahead arrangement on the album), and extracts the oddly intervallic melody from “You’re My Thrill” with cunning precision before setting off on a thoughtful improvisation. He’s dreaming still.