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JJ July 2017 Harry Allen_0717JJ 19/6/17 6:22 Page 10 ‘By the time I was in college I was around people who were Harry Allen really into Michael Brecker and John Coltrane. I loved the way they played but what I particularly like about the Swinging out tenor is the sound of guys like Webster, Chu Berry, Zoot, The great swing tenors were the saxophonist’s first inspirations but as Illinois Jacquet and Flip GORDON JACK hears, he’s had ears for Coltrane and Brecker and played Phillips’ with Ornette Coleman, unfortunately not recorded four saxes whereas Jimmy Giuffre’s Four Brothers was a big band chart. I’ve had the reunion album in my collection for years and on the CD we do The Red Door from that ses- sion which is my adaptation of the original – it wasn’t a transcription. I think three tenors and a baritone is a warmer sound than the conventional five-man sax section with two altos on top. I play the first tenor part mostly but the lead moves around on some of the arrangements. Incidentally on this tour I was joined by Olly Wilby and Dave O’Higgins (ts) and Richard Shepherd (bar) at London’s 606 Club where we performed material from the CD. We had a two-hour rehearsal before the gig and they proved to be great readers and excellent soloists. “I don’t like doing set-lists when I’m playing. You don’t know in advance what the feel is going to be at any given point of a perfor- mance with the audience, the band or John Herr personally. I might spontaneously feel like icki Parrott’s 2010 release Black ing tribute to his encyclopaedic knowledge playing a certain tune or maybe the audi- Coffee, with guest appearances from of popular songs, his long-time colleague ence might like a bossa nova, but if you put Harry Allen, is a CD I frequently pianist Rossano Sportiello once said “I’ve yet a list together you miss all that so I never do N a set-list, I just go with what I feel at the return to. Ms Parrott’s intimate delivery to find a tune Harry doesn’t know”. recalls the breathless charm of Peggy Lee moment and Andrea, Simon and Steve have I met Harry at the conclusion of his Novem- all been able to respond to that. I had worked and she clearly believes the old tunes are the ber 2016 UK tour where he had been accom- best tunes with delightful performances of with them in 2015 here and in Spain so I was panied by Andrea Pozza (p), Simon Woolf happy to have them with me again. During Dark Eyes, Don’t Smoke In Bed, Our Day (b) and Steve Brown (d). I began by asking Will Come, Just One More Chance, No Moon the tour I have combined playing with about his latest release featuring Eric teaching at the Royal Academy. I did private At All, Black Coffee and other gems of a Alexander and Grant Stewart (ts) and Gary similar vintage. Quality standards like these lessons with most of the saxophone players Smulyan (bar) – aka The New York Saxo- are what Mark Crooks had in mind when he and I taught some repertoire classes to dif- phone Band. once told me they offered “a hundred life- ferent grades of students. I also taught a times of material to explore”. “That band has actually been in existence couple of master classes and I must say that for about 10 years and I have been trying to the standard was very high – it reminded me A brief glance at Harry Allen’s extensive get someone to record it for a long time. In discography reveals this songbook repertoire 2006 Hans Zurbruegg, the owner of Mar- has frequently been an inspiration for him on ian’s Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland asked many of his own recordings. Over the years me to put together a four-saxophone band he has devoted complete CDs to a re-exami- for a festival there. I thought doing all the nation of the works of Sammy Fain (1990), arrangements might be too much work but Billy Strayhorn (1993), Duke Ellington (1999), Cole Porter (2001), Henry Mancini (2002), I decided it was a great opportunity espe- Johnny Burke (2010), Hoagy Carmichael cially as I was being paid for the project. I (2013), Johnny Mandel (2014) and Antonio started to get other work for the ensemble in Carlos Jobim (2015). Broadway shows too the States and in Europe and I use whoever like Guys & Dolls (2007), South Pacific can make it but the guys on the CD are the (2008) and The Sound Of Music (2010) have A Team – they’re the ones I call first. all been successfully revisited. Themes from “Phil Woods gave me Al Cohn’s Four Broth- James Bond films (2010) show how well ers chart from the 1957 reunion date with Harry has perfected the art of communication Zoot Sims, Al, Herbie Steward and Serge from even the most unlikely of sources. Pay- Chaloff. It’s a great arrangement written for 10 JAZZ JOURNAL HARRY ALLEN Harry Allen_0717JJ 19/6/17 6:22 Page 11 Harry Allen of Juilliard in New York”. Harry has a B.A. in music from Rutgers University. Allen’s full, rounded sound on tenor reflects the influence of an earlier generation of performers such as Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Buddy Tate, Paul Gonsalves, Lester Young and Scott Hamilton. I asked what tenor he used and if he had ever thought of playing the soprano. “I use a 1938 Selmer Balanced-Action. Most players use a Mark 6 or a Super Balanced- Action but I like the Balanced-Action better. The mechanism is simpler, they’re tougher and don’t break down so much. I tried a soprano years ago but I didn’t like it very much. Some guys feel comfortable playing a lot of instruments but I don’t. Every time I played the soprano or clarinet I really Jan Lundgren and Harry Allen during the recording of Quietly There for Stunt Records wanted to get back to the tenor – I just hear music through the tenor and by the time I something like that but I like working with afforded the luxury of a week’s rehearsal graduated college it really was the only a bass so it’s not something I’m dying to do. time. instrument for me. Anyway, I spent so much “I’ve recorded a couple of Burt Bacharach Harry has also essayed more experimental time finding the right mouthpiece and the tunes and I’ve considered doing a whole music. “This may surprise you, but about reeds I liked, I wouldn’t want to devote the album because I like his material. Hal five years ago I was invited by a friend to a same amount of time to another horn”. David’s lyrics are tremendous too. I’ve jam session at Ornette Coleman’s home in So how did he get started? “Thanks to my recorded Billy Joel’s New York State Of New York City. It was just the two of us with father I heard a lot of good music when I Mind and Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely. a rhythm section. We played for about three was growing up. He was a drummer and I don’t know enough of their material to hours in his music room and it was a fasci- worked quite a bit with Paul Gonsalves devote a whole CD to their work but I might nating experience although I find tonal because they had been in high school consider it”. Harry also had an association music more rewarding. We played free and together. There were always Ellington, Louis with guitarist Joe Cohn for about 15 years. I approached it the way I would any other Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald records in the During that time they recorded 13 CDs kind of music. I listened to everyone and house which is where I got my love of that together and in 2006 they won the New tried to fit in by playing something that music from. By the time I was in college I York Nightlife Award for outstanding jazz made musical sense. Ornette probably didn’t was around people who were really into combo performance. But he likes the idea of know anything about me but I don’t think Michael Brecker and John Coltrane. I loved larger forces too. he came away thinking I was a guy who just the way they played, of course, but what I “If finances were not an issue I would love played standards. I wasn’t a fish out of particularly like about the tenor is the sound to work with a big band or an orchestra. water and I was happy about that. We of guys like Webster, Chu Berry, Zoot, Illi- About two years ago I performed Eddie played three pieces, each lasting about half nois Jacquet and Flip Phillips so that is what Sauter’s Focus which was written for Stan an hour. The first and last didn’t have a I gravitated towards. Getz. I was invited to appear with a string melody or harmony and the middle one ensemble from Boston – A Far Cry – who started out as Body And Soul but quickly “My first date as a leader was on the Pro- were absolutely great. They played better turned into something else.
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