LINA ALLEMANO is a Toronto based jazz trumpeter, improviser and composer with an established and active career performing, recording and touring internationally. Her trumpet playing, compositions, and artistic vision have gained her recognition as being "adventurous, expressive, compelling, forward thinking, inventive, and sophisticated".
As well as fronting her band LINA ALLEMANO FOUR and the improvising group "N", Lina is also a member of many other active creative groups. She appears on over 30 recordings including her own critically acclaimed CDs that feature her original compositions: Lina Allemano Four Gridjam (2008), Pinkeye (2006), and Concentric (2003).
Lina's recent career highlights include:
- Performance at the prestigious Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT) in New York City
- Featured as one of the top innovative trumpeters for the future in DOWNBEAT Magazine
- Extensive touring with Lina Allemano Four
- Featured soloist at the spectacular Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico
- Winner of the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award
- Advanced trumpet technique studies in New York City with Laurie Frink
- Nominated for the 2009 National Jazz Awards Trumpeter of the Year and SOCAN Composer of the Year
Lina has received support from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council. Lina is a Yamaha Artist.
Press Quotes about Lina:
"Lina Allemano is a subtle trumpeter who can forge compelling ideas, seriously appealing tones and extended lyrical journeys while moving between mainstream and outside modes"
The Toronto Star
"Allemano's compositions are inviting and intimate"
DOWNBEAT Magazine
"Imbued with style, Allemano shows no need to prove anything"
Cadence Magazine, USA
"With oil and fire, trumpeter Lina Allemano can sting and soothe in one breathe"
Jazz Report
"Allemano is an admirable, daring player. Armed with a richness of tone, she isn't afraid to squeal, squeak or growl according to the given moment"
The Wholenote
"Allemano is a superbly lyrical trumpeter in a lineage that reaches back through Dave Douglas and Kenny Wheeler to Booker Little"
CODA Magazine
"Lina Allemano's voice on the trumpet is a breath of fresh air. Her music is forward-thinking"
Georgia Straight, Vancouver
Lina Allemano trumpet
Brodie West alto saxophone
Andrew Downing double bass
Nick Fraser drums
myspace.com/linaallemanofour
Toronto's LINA ALLEMANO FOUR has been hailed as one of Canada's most vibrant cutting edge avant-jazz groups. Known for their inventiveness and synergy, they deftly blur the line between composition and improvisation. Their music showcases Lina's progressive and open compositional style combined with her band's exquisite expressiveness and knack for the unexpected. A stimulating dynamic of interaction and spontaneity assures that the group's performances are always lighthearted and full of surprises. The band has toured extensively over the past 5 years, having released two widely acclaimed CDs, Gridjam (2008) and Pinkeye (2006), and will be releasing their third album in 2010.
Lina Allemano Four's recent highlights include: feature performances at Jazz Festivals and major tours across Canada; recordings for CBC Radio and TVO; nominations for Canadian Independent Music Awards' Favorite Jazz Group and National Jazz Awards Acoustic Group of the Year.
Lina Allemano Four has received support from Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council.
Press Quotes about Lina Allemano Four GRIDJAM:
"Sweet, but also short, Gridjam displays an enticing emotional dichotomy between smeary melancholic interludes and upbeat lyricism"
DOWNBEAT Magazine
"Four of Canada's best jazz players are heard leaping nimbly between concise bop and free-flowing sonic adventure, playing with agility, momentum and empathy, balancing intelligence and virtuosity with humour and moments of tenderness"
Montréal Mirror
"A stellar album... there's always plenty of room in the music, a dynamic that not only draws the listener in but allows trumpeter Allemano and her crew to take the music further out"
The Globe and Mail
"Another triumph for Lina Allemano... simply enthralling... supremely listenable"
Eye Weekly, Toronto
"An awesome and dynamic recording"
FFWD, Calgary
"Wholly captivating... awe-inspiring interplay... fascinating and full of the unexpected"
The Wholenote
"With Gridjam, Lina Allemano Four have reached a new level of loose, intelligent interplay"
Edmonton Journal
"There is a true synergy at work in this album... Lina's work is some of the most challenging and textured soundscapes in North American jazz circles"
Jazz Elements
Press Quotes about Lina Allemano Four PINKEYE:
"Lina Allemano Four make music that is every bit as interesting and unpredictable in its risk-taking as what comes out of the States"
Hour, Montréal
"Lina Allemano Four revels in interactive challenges and sophisticated tension... adventurous"
The Toronto Star
"Lina Allemano Four balance the infinite possibilities of free improvisation with the structure and discipline of playing changes; a daring twist that works brilliantly"
The Globe and Mail
"High calibre of playing and unique musical approach... thoroughly refreshing"
JazzEast Rising, Halifax
Lina Allemano Four PINKEYE named one of the "Best Jazz CDs of 2006"
The Toronto Star
Lina Allemano trumpet
Ryan Driver analog synth
Rob Clutton bass
Nick Fraser drums
myspace.com/thebandcalledN
"N" is a collective improvising group with a distinctive, intimate and unusual sound. Although perhaps difficult to attach a definitive label to the group, it has been described as "strangely charming". It is an adventurous ensemble that is both dynamic and delicate, and refreshing in its unabashed visceral candour.
Each of the four members is an inventive and creative improviser with a unique voice and wide depth of expression. Drawing from a multi-layered abstract sonic palette, "N" is a homogenous improvising unit with its own distinct aesthetic. Although fundamentally acoustic in nature, the group's inclusion of analog synth adds a subversive electronic element, used in a purely "acoustic" instrumental way.
"N" has performed at numerous Improvised Music Series since 2005.