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 ...

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

Source: Charles Carlini Presents
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 ...
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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 ...
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Capsule Reviews: Billy Hart, Albert Ayler, JD Allen

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
May 26, 2011

Billy Hart—Sixty Eight (Steeplechase, 2011) Drummer Billy Hart leads a fine group consisting of Jason Palmer on trumpet, Logan Richardson on alto saxophone, Michael Pinto on vibraphone, Dan Tepfer on piano and Chris Tordini on bass. They play fine mix of adventurous mid-60's centered hard bop and thoughtful ballads. The focus on ensemble play, with fine group playing, and no heroes trying to dominate the music. There's a great setlist, playing songs from the likes of Eric Dolphy, “Number Eight" ...
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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 ...
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POW! (Pick of the Week): JD Allen Trio

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
February 1, 2010

Looking back over jazz critics' top 10 lists of 2009, two of the most notable themes were the big band bloom and rise of the sax trio. The debut recording of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society and the sophomore effort of John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble found their way onto many year-end lists (Secret Society's Infernal Machines placed #2 on AccuJazz's compilation of critical consensus) and both bands generated buzz that traveled well beyond the jazz cognoscenti. (Infernal Machines was reviewed ...
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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, ...
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JD Allen - So Far "Out" He's "In"

Source: All About Jazz
April 10, 2008

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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 ...
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Les Paul (Mon) Mingus Orch. (Tues) May 2-6 Kenny Garrett/Pharoah Sanders (Fri Late Nite) JD Allen (Sat Late Nite) Dave Berkman at the Iridium Jazz Club

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
April 30, 2007

IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 8:30 & 10:30PM, Fri. & Sat. 3rd Sets AT MIDNIGHT Note: Set Times for Les Paul Remain at 8 & 10PM EVERY MONDAY LES PAUL AND HIS TRIO JOHN COLIANNI- PIANO- LOU PALLO- GUITAR, NICKI PARROTT- BASS Note: Set Times for Les Paul Remain at 8 & 10PM MINGUS LEGACY EVERY TUESDAY ...
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