JD Allen

Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century

by Philip Freeman
July 26, 2022

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1, “JD Allen: Just Keep Going" from Philip Freeman's Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century (ZerO Books, 2022). Queens, New York seems purposely designed to confuse travelers. It's January 2, 2020, a brisk but sunny day, and I'm to meet saxophonist JD Allen at Samurai Hotel Recording Studio. To get there, I ride the N train from Manhattan, then walk up Broadway (a different Broadway) to 21st Street, where ...

Gerald Cleaver & Vioilet Hour: Live at Firehouse 12

by Stefano Merighi
August 28, 2020

Gerald Cleaver incarna brillantemente la versione versatile del jazzista contemporaneo. Batterista e compositore, origini a Detroit, Cleaver giostra con fierezza e senso funambolico all'interno di tutti gli stili dominanti nella scena odierna. Può contribuire alla raffinatezza di gruppi accasati alla ECM, navigare a vista in organici del tutto sperimentali ("Farmers by Nature," “Black Host"), mantenere legami di lunga data con autori affini o inaugurarne di inediti come quello con Larry Ochs (il duo “Songs in the Wild Cave" ...

Tenor Sax Trios: JD Allen, Charles Owens, Mark Turner

by Russell Perry
August 18, 2020

Since Sonny Rollins' landmark recordings in 1957 and 1958 (Way Out West, A Night at the Village Vanguard, Freedom Suite), tenor sax plus bass and drums has been an attractive format for many tenor players. As Michael J. West wrote in Jazz Times “when jazz artists ... began experimenting with chordless ensembles in the 1950s, the sax trio became a daring extension of those experiments, and eventually a staple of small-group jazz. The lack of a piano or any other ...

JD Allen: Barracoon

by Mackenzie Horne
September 13, 2019

To describe JD Allen's Barracoon as a great record would give a false impression--though it is in fact a fantastic record. It would be demeaning to only refer to the piece as a great exemplar of post-bop production. This record is more important than that; not only is it significant in terms of Allen's artistic development, but the project also contributes to a larger historical framework. Barracoon frames Allen as a leader, a storyteller, and a historian. ...

JD Allen: Love Stone

by Maurizio Zerbo
March 12, 2019

Come suggerisce il titolo, alcune canzoni d'amore del repertorio jazzistico sono state qui rivisitate tenendo a mente una regola aurea: l'approfondita conoscenza dei testi, oltre che della musica, per un viaggio introspettivo intorno agli standard. In questi casi si corre il rischio di esporsi ad esiti monocromatici, in parte scongiurati dal duplice apporto solistico di sax-chitarra anche in chiave contrappuntistica. A conti fatti su Love Stone non si riscontrano veri colpi d'ala nella chiarezza espressiva del ...

JD Allen: Love Stone

by Dan Bilawsky
June 22, 2018

Beneath this tough tenor's exterior rests the most tender of spirits. If you need evidence, just spend some time with Love Stone. After carving out his rightful place at the apex with a series of brilliant piano-less trio outings focused on pithy originals, saxophonist JD Allen recently felt the winds of change in his horn and his habits. He reached a conclusion that originality may sit not in the song's architect but in its possessor, and he ...

JD Allen: Americana

by Angelo Leonardi
November 7, 2016

Con questa profonda, austera e appassionata indagine sul blues, JD Allen intende ribadire la sua centralità nell'ambito della musica statunitense (“il blues è la porta d'ingresso -dice nelle note -per il passato e il futuro della musica americana; la fonte da cui gospel, jazz, rock, country, rhythm & blues e hip hop sono formulati. Lo spirito del blues, sia esso sottile o esplicito, riesce a manifestarsi in ogni genere di musica americana"). Non è una questione secondaria e ...

Joe Satriani Bass Sideman & Mermen Co-Founder Allen Whitman Releases 4th Ambient Soundtrack "The Eternal City'

Source: Glass Onyon PR - William James
November 10, 2024

Allen Whitman, former bassist with legendary virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani and co-founder of the influential San Francisco-based instrumental surf-rock trio The Mermen, announces the digital-only release (through label Squeakey Studios) of his 4th soundtrack/ambient travel log album The Eternal City. The album, his 4th in a series, continues the artist’s predilection for incorporating acoustic guitar-driven sonic environments with samples and synths—and this time out forwarding the in-your-face pace of that Grande Dame of cities, Rome. The sounds, making use of ...
read more

Saxophonist Allen Mezquida Launches New Jazz Art Site: The Jazz Dive

Source: Allen Mezquida
June 13, 2024

Accomplished jazz saxophonist Allen Mezquida recently brought his quartet to the Stained Glass Music Studio in Pasadena for a memorable event that fused live jazz performances with an exhibit of his jazz portraits. This unique showcase marked the first time Mezquida’s music and visual art were presented together in the same venue. Attendees were treated to a set of classic jazz standards performed by Mezquida and his ensemble, which included Peter Smith on piano, Mike Gurrola on bass, and Charles ...
read more

Interview: Harry Allen

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 3, 2023

Harry Allen is often thought of as quiet and aloof. The truth is, the swinging tenor saxophonist is reserved and, based on my many email chats with him, a gentleman and great guy who tends to keep to himself. While you're certainly aware of his swinging style in the Zoot Sims-Paul Gonsalves tradition, you may not be aware that Harry is a superb arranger cut from the same cloth as Sammy Nestico and Nelson Riddle. [Photo above of Harry Allen ...
read more

Jazz Musician of the Day: Henry "Red" Allen

Source: Michael Ricci
January 7, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Henry “Red" Allen's birthday today!

Trumpet player, Henry “Red" Allen Jr. was the son of Henry Allen who was the leader of the Allen Brass Band of Algiers, Louisiana. Algiers is directly across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. As a teenager he played in his father's band, with George Lewis, the Excelsior Band and with the Sam Morgan Band. In 1926 he left New Orleans to play with Sidney Desvigne's Southern Syncopaters on the ...
read more

Recent Listening: JD Allen

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 13, 2018

JD Allen, Love Stone (Savant) Tenor saxophonist Allen’s brief liner notes are addressed to “Hello Dearest,” who is not identified. Allen tells the object of his affection, ‘True confession: playing the melody while knowing the lyrics is like drinking champagne alone and laughing at yourself all night long. I figured you would get a kick out of hearing me play someone else’s story, for a change. Hope you know that I live only to hear you say, “…hmmm…that’s different.’ Allen ...
read more

Boss Tenors Series A Regular Feature At New York’s Zinc Jazz Club

Source: Decibel
May 5, 2018

This spring and summer, In Touch Entertainment’s Boss Tenors series will feature world-class saxophone players in a legendary New York jazz venue, Zinc. Boss Tenors is part of In Touch’s music series which also includes Vocal Mania and Dangerous Rhythms launched earlier this spring. The latter program focuses on Latin jazz and is curated by bestselling author and jazz aficionado, T.J. English. Boss Tenors May programs will feature the Eric Alexander Quartet on the 9th, followed by Jerry Bergonzi Quartet ...
read more

Enter the Best of Blue Note Festival Ticket and CD Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
October 28, 2012

Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts the Best of Blue Note Festival November 13-18 in New York City, and one lucky winner will receive a pair of tickets to the Saturday, November 17th The Best of Blue Note performance (8pm at Rose Theater), while another lucky winner will receive 10 CDs from the Blue Note Records catalog (see below). The winners will be announced on November 13th. It would take a book to cite all the iconic recording sessions issued under ...
read more

Artist's Point of View: JD Allen

Source: The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
February 10, 2011

One artist and band whose evolution has been palpable and consistently spiraling upward is saxophonist JD Allen and his trio. The Detroit-born Allen wields a brawny, constantly questing tenor saxophone and in the company of bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston he is forging new vistas for the saxophone trio. Their stream-of-consciousness set, with barely a perceptible break in between selections—be they originals or cleverly re-imagined standards—at DC's Bohemian Caverns was one of last year's highlights for me (and ...
read more

Saxophonist JD Allen Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 15, 2008

Volant solos, melodic tapestries, mournful cadences, orphic rhythms. JD Allen's extraordinary I AM-I AM (Sunnyside, 2008) sculpts an aural monument to transformation, a musical testament to the power of the mind to overcome itself through introspective endeavor. Each of its ten compositions roils with the intensity and exposition of a soul wrestling with its two halves, seeking resolution and enveloping the listener in an experience composed equally of musical mastery, intellect, and spiritual renewal.

More than a culmination of studies, ...
read more

JD Allen's Sunnyside Records Debut "I Am I Am" Due Out April 22

Source: All About Jazz
April 3, 2008

"A tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style" —The New York Times In the mid eighties, the mighty Joe Henderson released two live albums entitled The State of the Tenor (Vols. 1 and 2) . Two decades later, the profound and powerful Detroit-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist/bandleader JD Allen, undoubtedly the most accomplished and ubiquitous saxophonist on the scene—as evidenced by his own projects and his work with everyone from Betty Carter and Meshell Ndegeocello, to classical violinist ...
read more