The Allison Au Quartet: Wander Wonder
Allison Au
A unit since 2009, Allison Au's Quartet plays with the kind of insouciance and assurance that a relationship of long standing engenders. The comfort level the alto saxophone-wielding leader and group members Todd Pentney (keyboards), Jon Maharaj (basses), and Fabio Ragnelli (drums) have achieved is apparent throughout Wander Wonder, the outfit's third studio album and follow-up to the 2016 Juno Award-winning Forest Grove. Produced by Pentney and recorded last August in Toronto, the new release documents Au's continuing growth as a player, bandleader, and composer while also showing her subtly building on the core acoustic jazz foundation of the quartet.
Growing up in multicultural Toronto, Au naturally was exposed to a multiplicity of musical styles. Though she obviously gravitated towards jazz, her sensibility was informed by other genres, too, and as a result it's not unusual to hear Wander Wonder to, well, wander into R&B, pop, Latin, blues, and funk territories without ever losing its fundamental connection to jazz in the process. Instrumentation alone reveals an inclination to move outside the acoustic realm, with Maharaj playing both acoustic and electric basses and Pentney augmenting piano with Prophet Rev2. The fact that the instrument's the first sound heard on the opening track also could be read as a sign of her desire to explore non-acoustic zones. As a composer, Au writes with a highly personalized voice, yet like any artist she's not without influences, and in that regard “The Valley” gradually takes on a strong Weather Report-like character, especially when her high-pitched alto joins Pentney's synthesizer; elsewhere, hints of a Wayne Shorter influence (the period from Atlantis to Joy Ryder) surface, too. Regardless, all ten of Au's originals (one, the high-flying “Force Majeur,” co-written with Pentney) engage.
The quartet digs into the bluesy vamp of “Future Self” for all its worth, its relaxed swing leaving no doubt the group can execute a classic acoustic exercise handily when the mood strikes. Backed by an inventive Ragnelli and a walking Maharaj, Pentney serves up an elegant solo while the leader affectionately voices the tune's lyrical theme when not doling out her own angular solo. That Shorter connection arises during “The Rest Is Up to You,” a more compositionally ambitious piece than “Future Self” and, with Maharaj on electric, a funkier one, too. Filled as it is with oblique melodies, jagged rhythms, and synth washes, “Red Herring” finds the group revisiting its adventurous side in a rather cubistic setting that in its middle section evidences a rather M-Base-like quality.
Armed with a clear, incisive attack, Au's distinctive as a player, especially when her vibrato is slower than the norm, its sound resonating as if at half-speed. For his part, Pentney plays with admirable restraint and taste, his lines sometimes pared down to single lines, and no slouches either, Maharaj and Ragnelli are ever-malleable and versatile. The quartet distinguishes itself whether tackling a soaring Brazilian-Latin fusion (“Looking Up”), eloquent ballad (“Morning”), or rubato meditation (“Grounds”) and throughout the fifty-three-minute set consistently meets every challenge Au throws its way. Given the multiple directions in play on Wander Wonder, it'll be interesting to see the balance struck between electric, electronic, and acoustic sounds on the quartet's next outing.January 2019