Jazz Articles about Harry Allen

Harry Allen / Scott Hamilton: ‘Round Midnight

by Edward Blanco
January 19, 2013

Harry Allen and Scott Hamilton are two veteran tenor saxophonists whose individual careers have not prevented them from maintaining a friendship or performing together whenever possible. Their third joint project, Round Midnight presents new interpretations of nine standards in a quintet format offering far more solos than normally found in a group featuring one main artist. Their pairing is reminiscent of the great tenor team of Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, and builds on the foundation of other such bands ...

Harry Allen / Scott Hamilton: ‘Round Midnight

by C. Michael Bailey
November 3, 2012

Johannes Brahms was called “the keeper of the flame" for Beethoven. Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen and Scott Hamilton are the same keepers for a tenor tradition that existed from the swing era through hard bop. The pair champions a sound and method established by Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Lester Young: a broad, dense tone, both confident and hesitant. Allen and Hamilton highlight a stylistic history that ended in 1956 when Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane recorded “Tenor Madness." This ...

Harry Allen: Rhythm on the River

by Nic Jones
January 3, 2012

Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen is a keeper of the flame ignited by the likes of Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. Whilst his music's nowhere near any cutting edge, he falls back upon the staples of the swing thru bop vocabulary like a man to the manner born and, over the course of this river-related program, demonstrates just how much the music means to him. The persuasiveness of his playing stems in part from his authority. To hear ...

Harry Allen: New York State of Mind

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 7, 2010

Nel secondo lavoro per l'etichetta Challenge, Harry Allen conferma i membri del suo quintetto con la sola esclusione del chitarrista Joe Cohn sostituito da Rossano Sportiello al pianoforte. Quest'ultimo s'è stabilito che da qualche anno a New York ed è molto apprezzato per la padronanza dei modelli stilistici tradizionali. Il tema di questo lavoro è New York che viene celebrata con undici brani legati al grande songbook della canzone americana (ma c'è anche il brano di Billy Joel che dà ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 23, 2010

How it is possible that bassist Nilson Matta is allowed to fly so low under the proverbial radar, with recognition coming mainly from his peers, is one of those mysteries that artists have to learn to live with. Meanwhile, Matta has been complementing the music of luminaries from singers Jo&#227o Gilberto, Johnny Alf and Chico Buarque do Holanda, and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, to saxophonist Joe Henderson and pianist Don Pullen, with grace and majesty.Matta's career has spanned decades ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Jerry D'Souza
March 11, 2010

Brazilian music is given a shot of verve and vivacity by bassist Nilson Matta, as he succinctly captures the imperatives of the music through originals and standards. The music of his native land courses strongly through his veins, and his compositions blood that presence. He sets up several moods, encompassing them in arrangements that draw the nectar without forsaking the tang.

Matta turns on the seduction from the time he sets the tempo on bass for “Baden," a tribute to ...

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage: Copacabana

by Edward Blanco
March 1, 2010

New York-based bassist Nilson Matta's Copacabana offers a musical adventure reflecting the many aspects of his native Brazil. Whether the culture, its different regions or natural wonders; Matta blends an exciting selection of new material with old Brazilian standards in a dedication to his homeland. The album--as well as Matta's combo (Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage--was born from a single event; a convention about Brazilian culture held at The Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York where he was asked to perform ...