Queen City (2021)

"JD Allen is perceptibly and powerfully measured on the 13 tracks on this album, which fall within the tight two-to-five-minute mark rather than stretching into opus territory. This concision is important. For the most part Allen keeps his focus on very even-handed well-paced narratives, sometimes using quite spare phrasing to highlight his melodic richness of pieces such as the beautiful ‘Wildwood Flower’ and sometimes opting for a strong rhythmic attack, such as on the bustling ‘Retrograde.‘ His articulation is excellent to the extent that some notes, cast against nothing but the endless vista of silence, have a steely, almost guitar-like resonance, as if he were fingerpickin' the blues rather than blowing it into life. The burly, weighty character of Allen's tone falls into a classic lineage that would include Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins, and he also has some of the danceable buoyancy of the latter on occasion." (Jazzwise)