Jazz Articles about Eddie Allen

About Eddie Allen

Album Review

Houston Person: From the Heart

Read "From the Heart" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 20, 2026

There are seldom any big surprises when tenor saxophonist Houston Person releases a new album. On the other hand, there are few moments that are less than pleasing, as consistency and good taste have been and remain Person's calling cards throughout his more than 60-year career as one of the jazz world's leading artists. Known for his warm, blues-drenched sound, Person, now in his 90s but showing few signs of bowing to Father Time, draws his magnetism From ...

Album Review

Schapiro 17: Best Laid Plans

Read "Best Laid Plans" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 29, 2026

There are times when even the Best Laid Plans are unable to generate quite enough horsepower to realize their full promise and purpose. New York City-based composer and arranger Jon Schapiro clearly had a plan in mind for the third recording by his large ensemble, Schapiro 17. The plan evidently included broadening the horizons of contemporary big-band jazz by writing adventurous new charts while taking a second look at themes composed by others and giving them a fresh coat of ...

Album Review

Eddie Allen's PUSH: Rhythm People

Read "Rhythm People" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 21, 2026

Brooklyn-based trumpeter Eddie Allen and his well-groomed sextet, PUSH, truly are Rhythm People, as they prove time and again on Allen's ninth recording as leader of his own group. Whatever the tone or tempo, PUSH swings its merry way through a dozen bright and upbeat tunes, most written and all arranged by Allen, wherein strong and dazzling rhythms are almost always front and center. The lone exception to that rule is the brief “Psalms 150," the only meditative ...

Album Review

Eddie Allen: The Rhythm

Read "The Rhythm" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 25, 2026

Brooklyn-based trumpeter Eddie Allen and his well-groomed sextet, PUSH, truly are rhythm-focused, as they prove time and again on Allen's ninth recording as leader of his own group. Whatever the tone or tempo, PUSH swings its merry way through a dozen bright and upbeat tunes, most written and all arranged by Allen, wherein strong and dazzling rhythms are almost always front and center. The lone exception to that rule is the brief “Psalms 150," the only meditative item ...

Album Review

The Paul Carlon Quintet: Blues for Vita The Paul Carlon Quintet

Read "Blues for Vita The Paul Carlon Quintet" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
August 3, 2024

Blues for Vita provides listeners with an outstanding eight-selection presentation that is a modernized throwback to the days when tenor-trumpet quintets such as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Lee Morgan's, and Cannonball Adderley's ensembles were the mainstays of jazz labels such as Riverside, Columbia, and Blue Note. The album offers a well-produced mix of straight-ahead, boogaloo, and Latin-flavors from five terrific Paul Carlon originals, two Broadway musical grabs, and a Larry Willis tune made most famous by Woody Shaw ...

Album Review

Peter Hand: Blue Topaz

Read "Blue Topaz" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 24, 2024

Peter Hand has a hand in almost everything on Blue Topaz, playing masterful guitar, writing seven of the album's ten engaging numbers and arranging all of them. He also spliced together a pair of blue-chip ensembles for his first small-group recording after three well-received big-band albums, and invited his longtime friend--and legendary tenor saxophonist--Houston Person to sit in on two tracks. Person had also guested on one of the guitarist's big-band recordings, Out of Hand (2014). Hand's ...

Album Review

Schapiro 17: Human Qualities

Read "Human Qualities" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 14, 2021

Following its splendid premiere recording, an exploration of Miles Davis' unrivaled album Kind Of Blue (Capitol Records, 1959), composer/arranger Jon Schapiro's 17-member ensemble broadens its horizons on Human Qualities, pairing seven of the maestro's astute and adventurous charts with the Roberta Flack best-seller, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." This time around, Schapiro proves that he need rely on nothing more than his own considerable experience as a jazz artist to create an album that expresses his point ...