Word: allen
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...Allen's playing is more difficult to grasp than Rubalcaba's--her playing is more harmonically complex and less predictable. She is also a less flashy player, although she possesses considerable technical agility. Her tendency to improvise relatively freely of bar downbeats, as well as her use of parallel octave lines and other mannerisms, suggest a strong Bill Evans influence. Her music flows a little more freely than Rubalcaba's, at least in these performances, and she introduces elements of chaos and abstract texture that the other trio never attempts...
This is most evident in Motian's frenetic "Fiasco," in which Allen's improvisation degenerates into seemingly random clusters of notes amidst heightened activity in the rhythm section. But Haden takes his most intriguing solo of the two sets during this tune, coaxing unworldly, industrial and percussive sounds from his instrument...
...remainder of the compositions on the Allen set, with the exception...
Haden's elegant "First Song," are of a moreexploratory and less melodic vein than thosechosen by the Rubalcaba trio. Motian seems to bemore involved in Allen's trio, venturing into theforeground even when not soloing...
...represent the way tributeconcerts should be done whenever possible: withthe active musical involvement of the artist beinghonored, and of his most distinguished colleagues.Either of the Montreal Tapes should notdisappoint; the one that is preferable is largelya matter of the listener's affinity for thedivergent piano styles of Rubalcaba and Allen...