JD ALLEN PRESS KIT
JD ALLEN tenor saxophonist [email protected] www.myspace.com/jdallen11
Publicity: Kim Smith Public Relations 718 858 2557 [email protected]
JD ALLEN B I O
Hailed by the New York Times as "a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style," JD Allen is a bright rising light on today’s international jazz scene. His unique and compelling voice on the instrument – the result of a patient and painstaking confrontation with the fundamentals of the art - has recently earned Allen a blaze of critical attention signaling his ascension to the upper ranks of the contemporary jazz world.
Originally from Detroit, Allen’s apprenticeship, anchored by his lengthy tenure with Betty Carter, occurred largely in New York, where he worked with legends Lester Bowie, George Cables, Ron Carter, Louis Hayes, Frank Foster Big Band, Winard Harper, Butch Morris, David Murray, Wallace Roney. He added his voice to that of his contemporaries as well; Cindy Blackman, Orrin Evans, Meshell Ndegeocello, Dave Douglas, Jeremy Pelt, Gerald Cleaver and Nigel Kennedy continue to call upon him to augment their musical visions.
JD's debut album, In Search Of... (Red Records, 1999), won him the Best New Artist award in Italy, and reviewers praised him for his compositions and conceptual boldness.
His second release, Pharoah’s Children (Criss Cross, 2002), again won him accolades for its thoughtfulness, maturity, and adventurousness. One of Jazziz Magazine's Critics Picks Top 10 Albums of the Year, the album was widely praised in the U.S. and Europe.
In 2008 Allen began an association with Sunnyside Records, which released I AM – I AM featuring Gregg August (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) and garnered rave reviews from the New York Times (Ben Ratliff’s Playlist ), Time Out NY (music cover), All About Jazz, Jazzman, Jazz Wise and Downbeat. That year Allen was awarded Rising Star Tenor Saxophone in the 56 th Annual Downbeat Critics Poll and appeared on NPR's Jazz Perspectives, WNYC's Soundcheck and WKCR's Musician's Show.
In 2009, Allen released his follow-up Sunnyside recording, “Shine!” which seems to have detonated the trail of musical gunpowder he had long been putting down. Word-of- mouth praise for the album led Lorraine Gordon, owner of the famed and historic Village Vanguard to invite him and his trio for a weeklong stint. The engagement was met with relentless coverage from the cultural press: Time Out NY selected his engagement as its top musical attraction for that week; he appeared on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show; his work was again discussed by Ben Ratliff on jazz journalist Josh Jackson’s radio show; and the New York Times reviewed his residency, commending Allen for his trio’s “fearless approach to a formidable tradition.”
J D A l l e n DISCOGRAPHY
RECORDINGS JD Allen Trio, VICTORY! Sunnyside Records, 2011 Jeremy Pelt, The Incredible Mr. Pelt 2011 Rufus Reed, TBD 2011 JD Allen Trio, SHINE! Sunnyside Records, 6/09 JD Allen Trio, I AM – I AM Sunnyside Records, 4/08 Jeremy Pelt, November Max Jazz, July 2008 Gerald Cleaver , Detroit Fresh Sound Records, 2007 Nigel Kennedy Blue Note Sessions Blue Note/EMI, 2006 Orrin Evans, Easy Now Criss Cross, 2005 Lucien Ban, The TUBA Project CIMP, 2005 Cindy Blackman , Music For The New Millenium Sacred Sound Records, 2005 Eric Revis , Tales of A Stuttering Mime 11:11 Records, 2004 Red Records All-Stars , Red Stars Red, 2003 Russell Gunn , Blue On The DL Savant, 2002 JD Allen Quintet , Pharoah’s Children Criss Cross, 2001 Orrin Evans, “THE BAND” Live @ Widener University Imani, 2001 Cindy Blackman , Someday High Note, 2001 Fabio Morgera , Colors Red, 2000 Duane Eubanks , Second Take TCB Records, 1998 Elisabeth Kontomanou , Embrace Steeplechase, 1998 Fabio Morgera , Slick Red, 1998 Cindy Blackman , Works on Canvas High Note, 1999 Winard Harper Quintet , Trap Dancer Muse, 1998 JD Allen Quintet , In Search Of… Red, 1996 Winard Harper Sextet , Winard Muse, 1996
EDUCATION Betty Carter’s JAZZ AHEAD Program , New York, NY, 1991 University of Michigan Music Program , Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1991 Hampton University, Music Education Major , Hampton, Virginia, 1991 Northwestern High School, Detroit Michigan, 1987-1991
*Toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East
SELECTED PRESS
"...a tenor titan..." JAZZTIMES
"...a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style..." BEN RATLIFF, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"...a muscular and harmonically adventurous tenor saxophonist..." NATE CHINEN, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"...a tenor saxophonist of enviable heft..." THE VILLAGE VOICE
"...a superior tenorist..." K. LEANDER WILLIAMS, TIME OUT NEW YORK
"...deep-thinking, very serious minded..." JAZZWISE
LIVE LINKS FROM TV & NPR
JD Allen on WNBC’S GOOD DAY NEW YORK , JUNE 13, 2010 http://www.nbcnewyork.com/aroundtown/events/Summerstage_Jam_in_Studio_7E__New_York.html
JDA3 :: NPR "LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD" (Live audio/video broadcast from Wed, 8/12, 9pm set) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111774598
BEN RATLIFF & JOSH JACKSON Listening Session for "SHINE!" on WBGO’s The Checkout http://www.wbgo.org/thecheckout/?p=990
JDA3 :: Live on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show (8/12/09) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nzy9jfiQPI
2009 YEAR-END HONORS
JD Allen, tenor / Gregg August, bass / Rudy Royston, drums *Photo courtesy of John Rogers for WBGO
SHINE! Critics Pics Top 50 Albums of 2009 http://jazztimes.com/articles/25461-critics-picks-top-50-new-albums-and-top-10-historical- releases
BEST MUSIC OF 2009: ‘Take Five’s’ TOP 10 JAZZ RECORDS OF 2009! Artist: J.D. Allen Trio | Album: Shine! | Song: Marco Polo http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121096843 Tenor saxophonist JD Allen has a concept, but little of the usual fuss accompanying the "conceptual." He challenges his trio to make simple tunes come alive quickly; his compositions sound as if he's plucked the choicest bits of classic period John Coltrane , then scrambled and reconstituted them as dense, two- to five-minute snack foods. Catchy, even hummable, Allen's nuggets also feel harmonically open, and with that great liberty comes great responsibility for the rhythm section. Happily, Gregg August (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) are a perfect match. Their hailstorms of sound (with hurricane eyes for the ballads) keenly envelop rather than drown out their leader's saxophone tessellations. It makes for an addictive brew, as administered in potent, bite-sized doses. - by Patrick Jarenwattananon
2009: THE YEAR OF LIVING IMPROVISATIONALLY BY JOSH JACKSON (#4) Artist: JD Allen Trio | Album: Shine! | Song: Sonhouse
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121271694 In the crowded field of tenor saxophonists in jazz, thirtysomething JD Allen has been, remarkably, hiding in plain sight. On Shine , his second straight trio recording, Allen and company hit their stride. They make sax/bass/drum combinations resonate. Each composition says what needs to be said, and finishes without proselytizing. Rudy Royston and Gregg August play an urban-sophisticate style of drum and bass, leaving plenty of room for Allen to swoop, slash and ring an emphatic affirmative.
JAZZ POLL WINNERS: TOP ALBUMS OF THE YEAR ( SHINE! #9) http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2009/12/30/village-voice-jazz-poll-winners- announced
Top Jazz Albums for 2009: JD ALLEN “Shine!’’ by Steve Greenlee http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/12/20/steve_greenlees_top_jazz_albums_for_20 09/ The tenor saxophonist’s sensibility comes out of bop’s heyday, but his pianoless trio’s approach feels thoroughly fresh, and he emphasizes economy; songs run two to five minutes, a blink of an eye in jazz these days.
The Best Jazz Recordings of 2009 by John Chacona http://www.johnchacona.com/?p=358 J.D. Allen Trio Shine! (Sunnyside) In a good year for tenor sax-bass-drums trios, the young Detroiter’s effort – and terrific band – commanded attention
Lament For A Straight Line JIM MACNIE’S 10 BEST CD’S OF 2009 http://lamentforastraightline.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/10-best-jazz-cds-of-2009/ There were several terrific tenor trio discs this year (don’t miss Marcus Strickland ’s Idiosyncrasies , and Fly ’s Sky & Country ) but Allen’s boasted the kind of aggression didn’t hide the lyricism he’s been nurturing for a decade. The concept – finding profundity in pith – helped distinguish the sometimes sweet, sometimes roiling music as well. Almost all these tunes are fit for whistling.
Jazzhouse Diaries DAVID ADLER’S BEST OF 2009 LIST http://www.jazzhouse.org/diary/2009/12/david-r-adler-top-25-of-2009-plus/
BILL MILKOWSI’S TOP 100 FOR 2009 http://www.jazzhouse.org/diary/2009/12/bill-milkowskis-top-100-30-for-2009/
BEST MUSIC OF 2009 ‘Take Five’s’ TOP 10 JAZZ RECORDS OF 2009!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121096843
Take Five's Top 10 Jazz Records Of 2009
JD Allen Trio Artist: J.D. Allen Trio Album: Shine! Song: Marco Polo
Tenor saxophonist JD Allen has a concept, but little of the usual fuss accompanying the "conceptual." He challenges his trio to make simple tunes come alive quickly; his compositions sound as if he's plucked the choicest bits of classic period John Coltrane , then scrambled and reconstituted them as dense, two- to five-minute snack foods. Catchy, even hummable, Allen's nuggets also feel harmonically open, and with that great liberty comes great responsibility for the rhythm section. Happily, Gregg August (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) are a perfect match. Their hailstorms of sound (with hurricane eyes for the ballads) keenly envelop rather than drown out their leader's saxophone tessellations. It makes for an addictive brew, as administered in potent, bite-sized doses. --Patrick Jarenwattananon, NPR Music's A Blog Supreme
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703571704575340862518421190.html?KEYW ORDS=WILL+FRIEDWALD
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NY CULTURE
JULY 2, 2010 Reviving Sounds and Legends
By WILL FRIEDWALD
J.D. Allen Quartet
Village Vanguard 178 Seventh Avenue South, (212) 255-4037 Through Sunday
This energetic young tenor saxophonist-composer is doing for free jazz what the Marsalis brothers did for hard bop 20 years ago. That is, he's helping us fall in love with a venerable form all over again.
Frank Stewart
Saxophonist J.D. Allen brings his distinctive free-jazz style to the Village Vanguard.
Mr. Allen's music takes us back to the birth of the avant-garde (think Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry), a driving, melodic sound that differs from the best be-bop primarily in theory; the mere fact that you have to listen hard to decide whether or nor they're playing off conventional chord changes tells you all you need to know. The addition of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt (who recalls Freddie Hubbard in his sessions with Eric Dolphy) to bassist Gregg August and drummer Rodney Green makes the group's music even more accessible.
I thought about the Marsalises (who were recently named collectively as Jazz Masters, in a surprising move by the NEA) during Mr. Allen's Tuesday-night show when he opened with a leaf from Wynton's book: He marched around the club and then onto the stage already playing his opening number, "The North Star"—or rather an intro to it that sounded like the main theme of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." This piece of uptown showmanship in the venerable Vanguard set the tone for the set. As noted, Mr. Allen improvises primarily off the melodic line, like the post- Ornette "free" players, rather than the harmonic progressions, like the be-boppers. But this shouldn't lead you to expect a set of ear-splitting screeching; every note that Messrs. Allen and Pelt play is in tune, and every rhythm not only perfectly metrical but swinging.
Mr. Allen also followed an example set by Miles Davis (not to mention that overlooked avant- gardist, Louis Prima) in that the whole set went by without an interruption of any kind. Sometimes he transitioned subtly from one tune to another by means of an arco bass solo from Mr. August; at other points he simply stopped playing one composition and started playing the next one without so much as a fermata between them.
Most of the numbers he called on in the opening set on Tuesday came from his two recent trio albums, "I Am, I Am" (2008) and "Shine" (2009); At the Vanguard, the addition of Mr. Pelt gave Mr. Allen's music a boost that made the live show more exciting than the CDs. When they played together, it signaled that we were at the heads of the various tunes—a way of helping the crowd find its way in the music—and their interplay was consistently brilliant. (The two also serve as the front line on Mr. Pelt's album "November," but that also doesn't capture their open-ended, piano- less interplay from the Vanguard quartet.)
Like a lot of the music in the Coleman-Coltrane era, there weren't any traditional ballads (except for a surprising and welcome detour through "Everything Happens to Me"); in keeping with that era, Mr. Allen favored dirges and spirituals over love songs. Mr. Allen's "Son House," a dedication to the great Mississippi blues giant, was framed by his more explicitly spiritual "The Cross & the Crescent Sickle." He does play something like the blues, though not the rigidly-defined 12-bar, 1- 4-5 chord pattern kind. But even when he essayed "Everything Happens to Me" and "When You're Smiling," he concentrated on playing with the tune rather than running the cycle of chords, as the boppers do. Mr. Allen is the friendliest of free-jazzers. His quartet is a marvelous reminder that there's more to jazz than the well-mined blues and "I Got Rhythm" changes.
Kim Smith public relations 718 858 2557 [email protected]
MUSIC REVIEW | J. D. ALLEN TRIO Sometimes Saxophone Is the Name of the Game By NATE CHINEN Published: August 12, 2009
J. D. Allen Trio: Mr. Allen’s tenor sax is the anchor for the group, at the Village Vanguard this week.
The J. D. Allen Trio takes a fearless approach to a formidable tradition. It’s a tenor saxophone trio, with bass and drums but no piano or guitar, which means that the burden of exposition falls squarely on the shoulders of its namesake bandleader. That should be challenge enough, but the format also amounts to a confrontation with history: it has been a test of mettle for tenor saxophonists since the 1950s, starting with Sonny Rollins and continuing on through countless inheritors. This week the J. D. Allen Trio is making its inaugural appearance at the Village Vanguard, which is where Mr. Rollins effectively set the bar. And judging by Tuesday night’s first set Mr. Allen has found a way to address that legacy in his own voice, and on his own terms. Together with the bassist Gregg August and the drummer Rudy Royston he fashioned a performance that was expressive, dynamic and forceful, marked by intellectual rigor as well as steady composure.
His group has a pair of worthwhile recent releases on Sunnyside — “I Am I Am” and “Shine!” — that make good use of compact themes and rough-and-tumble interplay. But this set, drawing from both albums, felt more immediate than either of them. Opening with an imploring tune called “Id,” the group cycled through about a dozen others before landing right back where it started. So there was rough symmetry at work here, and some faint sense of a larger design.
Mr. Allen amplified that feeling by tracing an uninterrupted path through the set, deftly linking one song to the next. He sometimes worked pre-emptively, moving on before a theme had run its full course. And the flicker of impatience in that gesture was productive: it created an irresistible momentum, keeping the room in a state of suspense.
The tunes themselves, however terse, were often just as incident packed. On “The North Star” Mr. Allen engaged in a seesawing tension with Mr. Royston, who filled every pocket of space, changing up his patterns with compulsive intensity. “Titus” was another odyssey, its tempo slackening and constricting as if in response to hilly terrain. “Shine!” began as a flowing ballad and gradually succumbed to a polyrhythmic roil.
Mr. Allen held his ground through every shift, playing in a sinewy tone and with supple but firm control. At times he evoked the heroic ideal of John Coltrane , whose pianoless 1961 recording of “Chasin’ the Trane,” from another Vanguard engagement, seems especially meaningful to him. But Mr. Allen also gave in to tender, unadorned melody on a pair of songbook standards, “The Nearness of You” and “Where Are You?” Each was a clearing in the woods, restorative and calm, and each lasted just barely long enough.
The J. D. Allen Trio appears through Sunday at the Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com.
KIM SMITH Public Relations 718 858 2557 [email protected]
The Week Ahead: Aug. 9-15 By THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: August 5, 2009 Pop Ben Ratliff
There’s a productive friction and balance in the tenor saxophonist J. D. ALLEN ’s music. It’s both thought through and impulsive. He sounds as if he’s working out a personal answer to an old problem, which is to find a passage between John Coltrane — especially the late Coltrane of “Interstellar Space,” tracing huge scale patterns over gestural rhythm — and Sonny Rollins ’ melodic improvisation. It also sounds as if he’s trying to go deep in short songs. On “Shine!” (Sunnyside), his new album, most tracks are four minutes or less. The album, with the bassist Gregg August and the drummer Rudy Royston, stretches out small but powerful original melodies. It’s one of the better jazz records of the year so far, and it will be good to see Mr. Allen, 36, at the Village Vanguard, where he will have his first week with that same group. Tuesday through Sunday at 9 and 11 p.m., with a third set on Saturday at 12:30, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com ; $30, includes admission and minimum through Thursday, $35 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Music Top live show JD Allen Trio Village Vanguard ; Tue 11–Aug 16
Photograph: Johnny Miller
When John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, symbiotic tenor-sax rivals during the late ’50s and early ’60s, issued their respective live recordings from the Village Vanguard, they left monuments that aspiring players have had to contend with ever since. Rollins appeared there in a trio with just bass and drums; now JD Allen will follow that daunting example in his own auspicious Vanguard debut. A 36-year-old Detroit native and a New Yorker since 1993, Allen isn’t one to be paralyzed by precedent. He learned the ropes with Betty Carter, Frank Foster and Wallace Roney, and he’s blossomed into one of the more sure-footed saxophonists of his peer group. From the start, with In Search Of… (1999) and Pharoah’s Children (2002), he has prioritized original material, a practice he continues on his two Sunnyside trio discs, I Am I Am and the new Shine! The tracks on these recordings average a very un- Coltraneish three to four minutes, yet they convey a sense of thorough, fearless exploration and album- spanning narrative. The tenor-trio field has grown more crowded of late (Donny McCaslin’s Recommended Tools , Jerome Sabbagh’s One Two Three , Marcus Strickland’s Idiosyncrasies ). Yet Allen’s group has arrived at its own sound, marked by volcanic out-of-tempo musings, darting swing permutations and tight, cyclical harmonic patterns. Joining Allen will be Gregg August, a classically trained bassist and an ambitious jazz composer in his own right, and Rudy Royston, a recent arrival from Denver, who has backed the likes of Bill Frisell and Ron Miles.—David R. Adler
By BEN RATLIFF / Published: April 13, 2008 From Algiers to New York, New Riffs on the Tried and True
Frank Stewart “I Am I Am” (Sunnyside), the new trio album by the youngish tenor saxophonist J. D. Allen, is redolent of serious jazz from the mid-1960s. But it’s not sentimental or glib; it’s dry, focused and compressed. More than half its tracks are under four minutes, and if you’ve listened to much serious jazz lately, that alone is a reason to be curious. In his mid-30s, Mr. Allen sounds as if he’s been through jazz pedagogy, but he’s not of it; the record is alive with the rhythmic slang and vernacular of the bandstand. (Gregg August is the bassist and Rudy Royston is the drummer.) Some of these tunes are based on small motifs, expanded in the style of Sonny Rollins; others are harmonic-motion exercises, expanded in the style of John Coltrane. Balanced somewhere between études and collective workouts, all the tracks contain nuggets of song, and Mr. Allen’s even, balanced sound works through them with remarkable care, never revealing too much or stiffing you on a good melody.
JD Allen: Notes of Change
JD Allen - Published: July 15, 2008
By Franz A. Matzner
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, or solidifying of artistic maturity, I AM-I AM resonates with the clarity of an artist who has reached a clear turning point. It is no wonder that Allen's latest work has received a flood of critical attention. Far from new to the jazz world, Detroit native Allen has been a stalwart of the New York scene for more than a decade, lending his astute playing and luxuriant tone control to a string of headline jazz names, from Betty Carter to Cindy Blackman. Despite this success, however, Allen found himself struggling with dark times—both musically and personally. At one point, Allen, living homeless in New York, struggled to stay afloat. By faith, perseverance, and profound dedication to his art, Allen charted a way through and the result reverberates clearly throughout his music.
Allen's story of personal revival and optimism is shared below in the most powerful way possible: his own words.
All About Jazz: You grew up in Detroit in the eighties, correct? JD Allen: That's right. I was actually born in the part that is usually called 'blackbottom.' On the East Side of Detroit—where most of the blacks from Mississippi migrated when they came up North to find work. My grandfather's family came there. I grew up there.
AAJ: What was Detroit like at that time?
JDA: Whoo! Wow, man. You gotta realize that I came up at an age where I saw the residue of the 1967 riots. So I came up thinking that burnt out, abandoned buildings were a natural thing that occurred in everyone's neighborhood in America. When I got older I realized what had happened. A lot of abandoned buildings, a lot of vacant lots. Cool people. Now, looking back, it was a town that was still trying to really recover. When I got older I realized it was trying to recover from the 1967 riots, that Detroit had changed. Most of the money had left Detroit.
AAJ: Did that time period, that time of transition, influence your early development?
JDA: Well, I knew then that I wanted to get the hell out of there! [Laughs.] I was talking to my sister a few days ago—I have two other younger sisters—and we used to look at pictures of New York in books and my one sister said, “I'm going there 'cause I'm getting out of here” and my other sister said, “I'm going there 'cause I'm getting out of here,” and I remember at 19 thinking “I'm going to New York because I like the way the Empire States Building looks.” So I had plans back then. I had to get out of there. Not because the people were bad. I don't want to say it was a city of broken dreams, but it was hard to see how you could become something great. Everyone either did something that wasn't cool, or worked for Chrysler.
AAJ: That said, Detroit does have a strong musical character. How did that influence you?
JDA: I realized at an early age, I would say around nine, that my mother had had prospects of becoming a professional singer before she met my father. There were some rumors that she was going to sign with Motown. So [after] I was born—I was the oldest—and dad was out of the picture by then, so she had to work. I think she kind of lived through me and my sister. We would sing these old Motown tunes in three part harmony. I realized there was definitely an R&B tradition at the time, that came before me, and I was learning that through my mom. But I couldn't sing! So I picked up an instrument at nine years old and messed around with it until the age of, oh, I guess I got serious about it at 15. I ran into guys like James Carter, and Ali Jackson, and I said “whoa!” this is a whole other side of music going on here. My family members called it progressive music. We didn't call it jazz; we called it progressive music.
The music, man, it was like there was no genre. I would go to a jam session in Detroit at 15 years old and see a cat stand on stage playing like Albert Ayler, and then turn around and play like Dexter Gordon, and then Charlie Parker, and then Junior Walker. It was like all the styles were one. I thought that was jazz until I got to NY. Then I noticed there were more cliques going on. In Detroit, everybody did everything. R&B. You did it all. If you were sincere about it, people dug it. That was jazz for me.
AAJ: That sounds like something that has carried through to your vision of jazz now.
JDA: I'd like to believe that. It's about the intent. The guys I came up with in the trade really appreciated intent. You can tell if someone is sincere about what they are playing, and then it's cool. They're telling their story. That is how it was for me. I was never around guys who were like, “who could play the fastest, who knows the heads to all the bebop tunes.” If a cat could tell his story, we were appreciative of that. It was an outlet against that backdrop of fucked up, burnt out buildings.
AAJ: If Detroit were a piece of music, what would it be?
JDA: You know what it would be? “What's Going On?” by Marvin Gaye. That is Detroit! I'm tellin' ya, that record right there is the soundtrack of Detroit. You get a chance to go through Detroit, put that on. He nailed it.
Detroit is a great town, man. I'm really not trying to dog it. The people are beautiful. It still has a lot of southern qualities about it... as long as you respect the other man, he treats you like a brother. The people still get dressed up on Sunday like you would never believe. I do love Detroit.
AAJ: You got started playing professionally by 17, 18 years old. And since then you've spent a long time playing as a sideman in a lot of amazing bands. But recently the tide seems to have turned, with a lot of attention on your trio and yourself as a leader. What accounts for that surge in your career?
JDA: When I took matters into my own hands. Meaning, that I decided to really put into the forefront some of the ideas that I had to play. After being with different people all those years—it was a university for me—it was time to make my own statement. It felt right. I felt mature enough to do it: personally, spiritually, and as far as musically on the horn, I felt confident to my self out there. It's like in the Bible “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, understood like a child, and thought like a child. But now that I am a man, I put childish things away.” That's a model for me now.
AAJ: I understand that during those early years, though, you went through some rough spots, musically and personally. What do you think was the lowest point, where you thought, “Man, I'm in trouble.” And how did you turn the corner to get out?
JDA: The lowest point. Man, my whole twenties. [Laughs.] But I think everybody says that. Everyone is dancing in the dark in their twenties. I'm thirty-five now. Thirty-one, thirty-two was my low point. That is when I said “Wow, wait a minute.” I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Not to judge them, but I couldn't take care of business. I was doing unmusical things that were affecting my music—and personal life. Man, to be honest with you, the last resort for me was—I had left NY so many times in my twenties—I decided OK look, I'm going to be in New York, I'm gonna be homeless, but I'm gonna be in New York and still gonna try and achieve what I want to achieve.
At one point I really was homeless. I still practiced everyday, but I was homeless. I dealt with that. I'm grateful for the experience. Just being out there like that, I pulled myself together. I started praying and going to church, reading the Bible; and telling myself positive things to change around my thinking.
That's the difference now. Whenever a negative thought comes, I fight back with something positive. And it seems to work. It really changed me. I've immersed myself in positivity instead of negativity. That can mean drinking, or doing these things that so- called musicians do, which actually has nothing to do with music. Trying to be cool, getting into the “in crowd.” It was a big mistake, but I pulled through. And I think I came out of it with a few stories to tell that I am anxious to record.
AAJ: Was there anything—or anyone—that gave you the sign that you needed to make this turn?
JDA: It was either lock myself up in Bellevue or... (Long pause.) Man, I really got low. I didn't see...any light. I think intelligent people are capable of change. If you are a smart person you can change and I like to think that I am a smart person. [Laughs.] I said, “I may be low, but I'm not dumb .” My father told me, if you can read, you can do anything. That's the best advice he ever gave me. Man, I read up on positivity. In the Bible. Immersing myself in the other side of life. That really, really made a difference.
At one point, I was selling scarves on the street. On 32nd Street. And I was actually becoming a business man. I was a business man in training. And I said, “Wait a minute, I'm up there selling these scarves, making money, but I could be hustling my own music. The same intensity that I'm out here hustling on the street, I could have the same mentality towards my music, getting it heard, being a leader.”
That [whole] experience woke me up to life.
AAJ: I want to turn to your most recent album, I AM-I AM , which seems to express some of that transition. You chose a trio format-with no piano. As a leader and a player, what do you gain from that choice?
JDA: Trio for me has always been an urban sound. It's very urban to me. If you go into an urban neighborhood—I think almost any urban neighborhood in America and I can bet you in Europe as well—when you see a young cat, a young brother, and he's blasting that music, the one thing you always here is that damn bass and drums. [Chuckles.] All the time! I feel that thing also. Something about the bass and drums, those beats, it sounds more African to me. More about rhythm. The trio format in jazz lets me be closer to rhythm and change on the fly. For some reason whenever you have a piano player, the minute he hits that chord it is dated. It sounds like you've heard it before. It sounds like Herbie, or bebop. But when you don't hear those chords, especially on the piano, you're able to change and play all types of genres and that is closer to the way I grew up playing. I'm more comfortable with the trio.
AAJ: You've got a tight relationship with your trio mates. Not getting into the technical aspects—describing it to non- musicians—what do you like about their playing?
JDA: I like the fact that we communicate. Meaning, it feels like to me that it's not a guy trying to play a great solo or tear the house down. It's three individuals having a conversation. It's a three way conversation. I inject an idea and Rudy [Royston], the drummer—answers me. And Gregg [August] puts his idea out and we answer him. It's a three ring circus. Really it is. That's how we are. We're working on new music where we can express that even more through group improvisations. You can do that with a trio. I can do that with these guys. I am very fond of them. Man, they'll play for me if it's a five dollar gig, or a five thousand dollar gig. It don't matter to them. I'm very blessed to have met these guys.
AAJ: The album has a real thematic consistency to it. Not necessarily musically, like a suite, but a thread that ties the ten pieces together.
JDA: You are right.... Recently, I've been trying to edit the tunes to tell one story. It's hard to explain! It's better if I talk [through] the record.
”I AM-I AM” is what Moses asked God, “What do I tell your people?” That's 3.14 I believe. And God says, “I am what I am.” That is the first tune. The second is “North Star” the brightest star in the sky. Some identify that with God as well. “Hajile” is Elijah backwards. Elijah ascended into the heavens and is supposed to come back. If you take the first tune and apply it [to the album], you can say “I am the North Star, I am Elijah, I am Titus,” etc. Titus was the only gentile in the bible to have his own book. Titles are very important to me.
AAJ: They are very provocative philosophically and religiously. It is clear from what you have already said that this is a deliberate choice to guide the listener with the titles, whereas for many the titles sometimes seem irrelevant.
JDA: I know one cat who came up with the title “Milk and Cookies.” I kid you not.
AAJ: The titles also identify many figures of leadership and strength. “Titus,” also a Roman emperor. “Othello,” obviously a figure of strength and suffering. “Ezekiel,” who is important to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. JDA: If you wait, actually, after the tenth track—after “Pagan,” there is a ghost tune titled “John Brown.”
AAJ: As a package, I AM-I AM opens with a theme very reminiscent of Coltrane's later work. Coltrane's musical journey really paralleled his spiritual journey. Is there a similarity in this album in how it reflects the musical and spiritual journey you have gone through?
JDA: I think his journey and life have influenced a lot of people and I won't lie. He has definitely been an inspiration to me. But his spiritual journey is actually nothing new at all. Bach had a spiritual journey. Just listen to Bach. The cello suites, or any of the arias. It's something more than notes there. Beethoven had a spiritual journey. The great composers and musicians—in Africa, in India—we all have a spiritual journey. It's our job to impart some kind of spirit to people. Now, whether that it is good or bad...?
I recognize that I have a place in life to help somebody. Even giving this interview might help someone. Someone might read it that is going through something, and I hope it can give them inspiration just like reading about Coltrane's drug addiction helped me make it out of some situations.
AAJ: Moving outside of the album and music specifically, you mentioned already Detroit going through a transition period. “Change” is a powerful word of the moment right now. What does change mean to you?
JDA: Right now, in the political context, I think it's a moment where black Americans, especially black American men, can finally say, “I have no excuse for not becoming the best that I can be.” I feel we are putting to rest the blame—and rightfully so sometimes— but the blame of saying I can't do it because the man got me down. I am just so proud of Barak Obama and what he is doing. He is an example of how to [succeed] in the world in a way that includes everyone.
It's amazing what is happening. It's hard to put in words. It is easier to put into music. I am so happy to be living now, because the music and the art that is going to happen now is going to be fucking amazing!
Even five years ago you never would have asked me that question about politics in an article! And I am elated that you asked me that.
AAJ: Do you think Obama really represents a dramatic change for African-Americans? JDA: I think because of what Obama is doing, it's the first time in this country where we can all say that we are all American. This is the first time—you can look at an Obama convention and see people of all colors and hues coming together for the common good of everybody... I am so happy. It is good to hear hope in the air.
AAJ: You sound optimistic.
JDA: I am. I am. I can now understand why we went through the seven years of turmoil with the current president we have now. Because out of that has come this hope.
We are seeing history being made. I'll tell you how into it I got, I volunteered. I got on a 25 dollar Chinese bus and rode down to Philadelphia to go door to door to say vote for Obama. And I was so proud to do it because I had my little part in history.
AAJ: Coming back to the album, there are examples there of great leaders. It sounds like you believe we are in a period where we have a great leader.
JDA: I believe so. I feel that we are in that period. It is a period of seriousness. Even in the music. Whereas in the '90s it was about smooth edges and craftsmanship, now people want it to hang out a little more. When you go to a museum and see the African art, the sharp angles the pointed lines. The music is more about that now. It's a radical point in history. There's electricity everywhere and I hope I capture that in my music.
AAJ: There are so many issues that are coming to a head right now.
JDA: It is very radical. Not being political for political's sake, but I think we as musicians can express that and want to express that—and the people are hungry for it.
AAJ: Music has always has always been a part of those kinds of transitional moments in history. You can go through any period of radical change and find that people needed the music and used it as a tool.
JDA: I am sure there is a shift in all art...I am sure there is something going on everywhere because it is in the air. There is something happening , and I want to be a part of that.
Selected Discography
JD Allen, I AM-I AM (Sunnyside, 2008) Gerald Cleaver, Gerald Cleaver's Detroit (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2008) Cindy Blackman, Music for the New Millenium (Sacred Sound, 2004) Orrin Evans, Easy Now (Criss Cross, 2005) JD Allen, Pharoah's Children (Criss Cross, 2002) Russell Gunn, Blue on the D.L. (High Note, 2002) Duane Eubanks, Second Take (TCB, 2001) JD Allen, In Search Of... (Red, 1999) Winard Harper, Winard (Savant, 1999) Bob Belden, Shades of Blue (Blue Note, 1994)
Jazz Listings
Published: March 2, 2007
J. D. ALLEN TRIO (Thursday) An assertive and harmonically adventurous tenor saxophonist, J. D. Allen enjoys strong support from Gregg August on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. At 9 p.m., Rose Live Music, 345 Grand Street, between Havemeyer and Marcy Streets, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-0069, liveatrose.com ; suggested donation, $5. (Nate Chinen)
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
JD Allen’s I Am – I Am Though a whiz when it comes to fitting into an ensemble, the saxophonist may be most impressive blowing hard in a trio setting. Each time I’ve caught him stripped down, his power was unmistakable. There’s a fierce swing to the forward motion of his lines. Bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston feed the fire. MACNIE
Rose Café, Thursday, 8 345 Grand Street, Brooklyn 718-599-0699
Jazz Review | JD Allen Trio The Authority and Energy of Even-Tempered Improvisation By Ben Ratliff - Published: May 20, 2005
The tenor saxophone-bass-drums trio is an intrinsic challenge. It doesn't give musicians anywhere to hide: all the notes are exposed without a chordal instrument to bind them together, guide them with harmonic context or spell the saxophonist.
J. D. Allen is a tenor saxophonist from Detroit who's been playing around New York mostly as a sideman over the last decade, with Betty Carter and Cindy Blackman and Orrin Evans, among others; only in the past two years has he been playing regularly with his own bands.
Over the last year, most of those bands have been trios, and the musicians have revolved. On Wednesday night at Zebulon, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he had a bassist he's worked with a lot, Joseph Lepore, and a drummer he hadn't worked with at all, Marcus Gilmore.
He used the evening as a platform to connect rhythmically with the rest of the group, and he and Mr. Gilmore got used to each other immediately.
In a taut set of four pieces, a short melodic shard began each tune, and then suddenly the floor gave way; the rest was continuous improvisation, most of it operating with full climactic concentration. Mr. Allen has superb rhythm, and he plays eighth-note patterns with a fast, on-the-beat buoyancy; though there was some Coltrane in the improvised melodic material and the group's surging energy, the notes never came out husky or smeared. They were popping and on-the-beat, and more like Cannonball Adderley's, full and individuated.
Mr. Gilmore, 19, the grandson of the drummer Roy Haynes and already formidable, soloed constantly, too. He sketched his way through, changing his patterns, making his pulse basically even but soft and slightly unstable; he laid in plenty of rolls, spaced apart, many snapping sharply and bringing a new feeling of authority to the music about every 10 seconds.
Mr. Lepore, wisely, stayed away from walking bass figures; you wouldn't want to obscure all that was going on in the music's rhythmic lower levels.
In a few pieces governed by dark-toned themes (including Butch Morris's "Conjuration of Angles") and blues, the saxophonist's models kept drifting to the surface. He accessed broken-off parts of the themes to Coltrane's "Fifth House" and "Mr. P.C.," reducing them to intervals and scrambling them, as well as Ornette Coleman's successions of short, bright melodies punctuated by blues cries.
But except for the short areas when he let bass and drums solo without him, he kept the fizz going with his own even temperament, which neither got out of control nor left lots of empty space. J. D. Allen performs with his quartet on June 10 and 11 at Smalls, 183 West 10th Street,West Village, (212) 929-7565
In the Old Office, the most intimate of the Knit's three performance space, tenor titan JD Allen kicked things off in kinetic fashion with his muscular, free-swinging rhythm tandem of Eric Revis on acoustic bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. Blowing with white-hot intensity and virtuosic command of his instrument in all registers, Allen soared with abandon on top of the rhythmic whirlwind generated by Cleaver and Revis.
(Bill Milkowski, April 2006)
Jazz Review | NYC Winter Jazzfest
Finding Diamonds in a One-Night Jazz Cornucopia By Ben Ratliff
January 24, 2006
…Some of the best-wrought, lived-in grooves were spaced about seven hours apart, with J. D. Allen's acoustic jazz trio on one end and Meshell Ndegeocello's Spirit Music Jamia band on the other. Mr. Allen's group, with Eric Revis on bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums and Mr. Allen on tenor saxophone, took no time to warm up: it put aloft one short, driving motif after another, with an Ornette Coleman-like simplicity. Mr. Allen, with a strong sense of time and improvisational play, was riding securely on top of mature, new- style rhythm-section playing, with dense, bunched-up patterns inside the swing; in long, unbroken swaths of music, he changed the rhythm by cueing the band with new riffs.
Much later, Mr. Allen joined Ms. Ndegeocello's band, which feels like a continuing, changeable experiment, balancing between pop-song structure and jamming. But it isn't a time-waster; her presence is mercurial, and everything she sang or played on electric bass was rapturous, implying groove and melody without making it explicit. After making the audience wait until 1 a.m., more than an hour later than scheduled, she made her performance a real show, not just a canned showcase, and won the crowd with a slow, chanted funk number winding through various soloists, followed by a hard, motoring, metallic piece, with Terreon Gully on drums, Brandon Ross on guitar, and solos by the saxophonist Oliver Lake…