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Jazz Articles about JD Allen

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Book Excerpts

Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century

Read "Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century" reviewed by Philip Freeman


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 ...

Album Review

Gerald Cleaver & Vioilet Hour: Live at Firehouse 12

Read "Live at Firehouse 12" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


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" ...

6
Radio & Podcasts

Tenor Sax Trios: JD Allen, Charles Owens, Mark Turner

Read "Tenor Sax Trios:  JD Allen, Charles Owens, Mark Turner" reviewed by Russell Perry


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 ...

12
Album Review

JD Allen: Barracoon

Read "Barracoon" reviewed by Mackenzie Horne


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. ...

Album Review

JD Allen: Love Stone

Read "Love Stone" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


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 ...

9
Album Review

JD Allen: Love Stone

Read "Love Stone" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


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 ...

Album Review

JD Allen: Americana

Read "Americana" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


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 ...


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