Jazz Articles about JD Allen

J.D. Allen Trio: Shine

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 24, 2009

The unfettered joy of listening to J.D. Allen's Shine comes from being reunited with the blues and spiritualism of modern Afro-American saxophone music. This kind of feeling and emotion all but died with John Coltrane. Arguably only a handful of players such as Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and, perhaps, Dewey Redman kept those flames alive. And then there is that thing that tenor saxophonists do with their horns, namely to create an imaginary being--the saxophonist's alter ego, his personality--literally from ...

J. D. Allen Trio: Shine

by Mark Corroto
June 7, 2009

It's impossible to be an impostor at the gambit in which J.D. Allen's trio is participating. His jukebox length compositions either hit or have the possibility to miss badly.

Luckily, he has released a second trio album of all bull's-eyes.

Shine! follows the pattern established on I AM I AM (Sunnyside, 2008). Allen writes, and his trio performs short-ish, three, four, and five minute compositions that are the musical equivalent of the two-minute drill in football, ...

JD Allen Trio: I AM I AM

by Mark F. Turner
July 26, 2008

Playing from the heart, creating and improvising from within, jazz music's mantra continues to espouse that “honesty is the best policy." This is heard and felt when listening to saxophonist J.D. Allen's I Am I Am. In an insightful and inspirational interview, the artist gives light to what makes his music forthcoming and real. Allen's been around for a bit. This is his second recording as a leader, following Pharoah's Children (Criss Cross, 2002). Gaining momentum as a ...

JD Allen: Notes of Change

by Franz A. Matzner
July 15, 2008

Volant solos, melodic tapestries, mournful cadences, orphic rhythms. J.D. 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 ...

JD Allen Trio: I AM I AM

by Laurel Gross
May 5, 2008

JD Allen can be a powerhouse, hard-driving tenor, but he is also capable of great subtlety and versatility. All three qualities are amply in evidence on I AM I AM, and were also front and center in a performance of his piano-less trio in March, 2008 at New York's Jazz Standard to mark the release of the recording. Allen has picked his partners wisely. Bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston are canny interpreters of the ten ...

JD Allen Trio: I AM I AM

by Mark Corroto
April 13, 2008

Face it, if you play the tenor saxophone you're going to have to deal with the legacy of John Coltrane's sound. You can hear it in the playing of Branford Marsalis, Pharoah Sanders, and even Sonny Rollins. It is believed that Rollins was so influenced by Trane, that his style was forever changed in the 1960s. But we'll leave that argument to scholars. On I Am I Am the thirty-something JD Allen takes on the Coltrane legacy and leaves us ...

J.D. Allen: Pharoah's Children

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 25, 2003

When it comes to recordings of mainstream excellence, it's hard to ignore the impressive battery of titles that producer Gerry Teekens has built up for his Criss Cross imprimatur. The label has established an consistently reliable reputation among experienced musicians, most recently shifting towards documenting some cutting edge musicians of a younger age. Case in point, Detroit-raised J.D. Allen, whose first album for the Dutch based company is a point of departure from their typical fare, albeit with a flavor ...