Harry Allen is often thought of as quiet and aloof. The truth is, the swinging tenor saxophonist is reserved and, based on my many email chats with him, a gentleman and great guy who tends to keep to himself. While you're certainly aware of his swinging style in the Zoot Sims-Paul Gonsalves tradition, you may not be aware that Harry is a superb arranger cut from the same cloth as Sammy Nestico and Nelson Riddle. [Photo above of Harry Allen by Fran Kaufman, courtesy of Harry Allen]
Harry's new album, With Roses (Triangle), is a knockout and one of his finest to date. It features his arrangements of songs composed by Roger Frankham with lyrics by Roger Schore, Bruce Brown, Mark Winkler and Roger himself. Singing those lyrics on all but one track is Lucy Yeghiazaryan. Her vocals here are remarkable, considering she had to learn them for the recording session. Lucy's feel is beautiful and elegant, giving Frankham's melodies an earhty mood and dimension.
Harry's solo work on the tenor saxophone is always top-notch, but especially here, riding the crest of his gorgeous arrangements on songs like Here in Rome, the waltz Diamonds, That's When the Fun Starts and the title song. Each track is catchy and sensual, blooming with color and fragrance. And not a single cliche. I love listening to the music over and over again. The combined personnel of the band features Harry Allen (ts), Warren Vache and Freddie Hendrix (tp), John Allred, (tb), Grant Stewart (ts), Peter Anderson (clar), Will Anderson (clar), Dan Block (bass clar), Steve Kenyon and Kathleen Nester (fl), John Di Martino (p), Mike Karn (b), Aaron Kimmel and Bryan Carer (d), and Lucy Yeghiazaryan (v).
JazzWax: Where did you grow up, Harry?
Harry Allen: I was born in Washington, D.C. At the time, my parents and older sister, lived in Maryland. When I was 1 year old, we moved to Granada Hills, Ca. We had a big yard, and the hills were fun to explore as a child. When I was around 11, we moved to Rhode Island, where my father had grown up.
JW: Tell me about your dad.
HA: He began as a drummer who played in the Navy jazz band during World War II at Quonset Point, R.I. After his discharge, he played with the George Johnson Orchestra, which I guess you could say was a territory band based out of Boston.
JW: Did you hear him play, professionally?
HA: No. Dad was in his late 40s when he had me. Many years before, he switched careers to engineering to pay the bills. My mom, Jacquelin, stayed at home to raise us kids. When we were old enough to take care of ourselves, she returned to her career as an occupational therapist. As a child, I was quiet and shy, and I enjoyed being alone.
JW: When did your dad start playing you big band records?
HA: At some point, my sister began leaving for school an hour earlier than me. During that hour, we’d listen to records. While I was too young to remember specifics, those albums obviously had a huge impact on me. I know there was a lot of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman. Because my father went to high school with Paul Gonsalves and played with him often through high school and in the years following, the Duke Ellington records he owned heavily featured Paul.
JW: What did you enjoy about his playing? His sense of swing?
HA: Probably, while I don’t remember, I presume that listening to Paul rooted in me the type of tenor sound and playing style I’d embrace years later. At age 7, I started playing accordion before taking up the clarinet at 11. Even as a little kid, I always wanted to be play saxophone. I even had a plastic toy saxophone I loved to play along to the records. My father suggested I play clarinet first. The prevailing wisdom then was that it was easier to switch from clarinet to saxophone than vice versa. After a year of clarinet, I started playing tenor saxophone.
JW: Who helped you along?
HA: One of my dad’s good friends, a great tenor player named Nicky Peters, suggested I buy a Scott Hamilton recording. That was the first recording I bought, and I immediately fell in love with Scott’s beautiful sound.
JW: What was your first professional gig?
HA: When my sister and I started playing accordion, my dad dusted off his drums and we formed a family band. We played weddings and nursing homes and places like that. I joined the musician’s union when I was 11 or 12, though I consider the start of my career to be when I had my first gig in the New York area with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.
JW: How did that come about?
HA: He was hugely supportive and hired me to sub for Zoot Sims at a jazz event at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. In the band was Ruby Braff, George Masso, John Bunch and Bucky, of course. For some reason, Dizzy Gillespie walked in, and I almost fainted, I was so nervous. Maybe he was recording at Rudy Van Gelder’s nearby and wanted to check us out.
JW: Did you have a good high school big band?
HA: We had an excellent music program. The junior high and high school were in the same building, and I was asked to play in the high school band while I was still in junior high. The orchestral band won many New England competitions. And the big band was very good, too. We used lots of Sammy Nestico arrangements, though we didn’t have the black, floppy acetate discs he had included years earlier. One year I played lead alto with the big band, but the rest of the time I played tenor. Once out of high school, I quickly gave up the alto, clarinet and soprano for the good of humanity.
JW: Why did you choose Rutgers University?
HA: I chose Rutgers for the strangest of reasons. In Rhode Island we lived in a very small town during my junior high and high school years. I didn’t like the small-town aspect of it and wanted to attend a large college. I wasn’t ready to live in New York but wanted a school that wasn’t going to keep me busy every minute of the day the way Berkeley in Boston or Juilliard in New York would. I also knew that college wasn’t where I was going to learn my craft. Going to New York clubs and hearing the greats was how to do that. Rutgers seemed like a good choice, since it was fairly close to the city.
JW: Did you know in advance that it had a good music program?
HA: I didn’t know anything at all about it. The school, of course, turned out to have a very good program and getting to know, hear and play with piano instructor Kenny Barron was truly amazing. While I was still in college, Kenny hired me to play on a Sony recording with him and singer Bobbie Norris. It was recorded for Sony at the great RCA studios in Manhattan. That was my first recording and it was a huge thrill.
JW: As an early working musician, did you feel college was in the way?
HA: By the time I was a junior, I was working so much that getting up for morning classes was starting to be a drag. Plus, the great drummer Oliver Jackson wanted to take me on the road, but not while I was in college. I very nearly dropped out of school to be taken along. My parents talked me into staying and completing my bachelor’s degree. I was very glad when college was over.
JW: How did you learn to arrange?
HA: Though I took some arranging classes at Rutgers, I didn’t get seriously into arranging until much later. I wrote my first big band arrangement in high school, but I didn’t know how to write for trombones. I wound up transposing them one octave lower than I wanted. The arrangement sounded frightfully bad, and it put me off arranging for a long time. I wonder if my my career would have been different had I just told the trombones to take the parts up an octave. I probably would have gotten serious about arranging much earlier.
JW: Did other arrangers inspire you?
HA: I’ve always been fascinated by the great arrangers. Eventually, I was determined to get serious about it. Johnny Mandel told me that arranging is an exercise in trial and error. If you write something you like, write it again. If you write something you don’t like, don’t do it again.
JW: Tell me about your new album, With Roses. What’s the significance of the title?
HA: Some years back, composer Roger Frankham put together a record date for which I was hired as a sideman. That’s how we first met. I liked his songs, and he liked my playing, so we collaborated on a few other projects. When we talked about this one, I suggested we come at half the songs from a jazz angle and the other half from more of a vocalist-with-orchestra vibe. We decided to have two recording days: one with two tenors, two trumpets and a trombone and one with two flutes, two clarinets and a bass clarinet.
JW: How did vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan come to the projects?
HA: Lucy is one of my favorite singers today and was a natural choice for the vocals. She did an incredible job singing these songs, which, of course, were completely new to her before this project. With Roses is one of my favorite songs on the CD but also made a lovely CD title. The original artwork on the packaging is painted by my wife, Ivana Falconi. She’s great.
JW: Your arrangements are terrific How long did they take?
HA: Thank you very much! I wrote one arrangement each day for 10 days straight to complete them. My main concern, of course, was to be true to the composer’s music and the intended feel and atmosphere of each song. Obviously, the goal was to try to make each song sound as great as possible and support Lucy’s vocals in the best way possible. Here in Rome is an arrangement I’m especially proud of. That was super fun to write.
JW: What are your three favorite Paul Gonsalves tracks and three favorite Scott Hamilton tracks?
HA: For Paul Gonsalves, they would be Happy Reunion, from Ellington at Newport 1958; Where or When and Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue. For Scott Hamilton, I’d say, My Foolish Heart from Tenorshoes; I Can’t Believe You’re In Love With Me. from The Scott Hamilton Quintet in Concert; and Crazy Rhythm from The Grand Appearance.
Harry's new album, With Roses (Triangle), is a knockout and one of his finest to date. It features his arrangements of songs composed by Roger Frankham with lyrics by Roger Schore, Bruce Brown, Mark Winkler and Roger himself. Singing those lyrics on all but one track is Lucy Yeghiazaryan. Her vocals here are remarkable, considering she had to learn them for the recording session. Lucy's feel is beautiful and elegant, giving Frankham's melodies an earhty mood and dimension.
Harry's solo work on the tenor saxophone is always top-notch, but especially here, riding the crest of his gorgeous arrangements on songs like Here in Rome, the waltz Diamonds, That's When the Fun Starts and the title song. Each track is catchy and sensual, blooming with color and fragrance. And not a single cliche. I love listening to the music over and over again. The combined personnel of the band features Harry Allen (ts), Warren Vache and Freddie Hendrix (tp), John Allred, (tb), Grant Stewart (ts), Peter Anderson (clar), Will Anderson (clar), Dan Block (bass clar), Steve Kenyon and Kathleen Nester (fl), John Di Martino (p), Mike Karn (b), Aaron Kimmel and Bryan Carer (d), and Lucy Yeghiazaryan (v).
JazzWax: Where did you grow up, Harry?
Harry Allen: I was born in Washington, D.C. At the time, my parents and older sister, lived in Maryland. When I was 1 year old, we moved to Granada Hills, Ca. We had a big yard, and the hills were fun to explore as a child. When I was around 11, we moved to Rhode Island, where my father had grown up.
JW: Tell me about your dad.
HA: He began as a drummer who played in the Navy jazz band during World War II at Quonset Point, R.I. After his discharge, he played with the George Johnson Orchestra, which I guess you could say was a territory band based out of Boston.
JW: Did you hear him play, professionally?
HA: No. Dad was in his late 40s when he had me. Many years before, he switched careers to engineering to pay the bills. My mom, Jacquelin, stayed at home to raise us kids. When we were old enough to take care of ourselves, she returned to her career as an occupational therapist. As a child, I was quiet and shy, and I enjoyed being alone.
JW: When did your dad start playing you big band records?
HA: At some point, my sister began leaving for school an hour earlier than me. During that hour, we’d listen to records. While I was too young to remember specifics, those albums obviously had a huge impact on me. I know there was a lot of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman. Because my father went to high school with Paul Gonsalves and played with him often through high school and in the years following, the Duke Ellington records he owned heavily featured Paul.
JW: What did you enjoy about his playing? His sense of swing?
HA: Probably, while I don’t remember, I presume that listening to Paul rooted in me the type of tenor sound and playing style I’d embrace years later. At age 7, I started playing accordion before taking up the clarinet at 11. Even as a little kid, I always wanted to be play saxophone. I even had a plastic toy saxophone I loved to play along to the records. My father suggested I play clarinet first. The prevailing wisdom then was that it was easier to switch from clarinet to saxophone than vice versa. After a year of clarinet, I started playing tenor saxophone.
JW: Who helped you along?
HA: One of my dad’s good friends, a great tenor player named Nicky Peters, suggested I buy a Scott Hamilton recording. That was the first recording I bought, and I immediately fell in love with Scott’s beautiful sound.
JW: What was your first professional gig?
HA: When my sister and I started playing accordion, my dad dusted off his drums and we formed a family band. We played weddings and nursing homes and places like that. I joined the musician’s union when I was 11 or 12, though I consider the start of my career to be when I had my first gig in the New York area with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.
JW: How did that come about?
HA: He was hugely supportive and hired me to sub for Zoot Sims at a jazz event at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. In the band was Ruby Braff, George Masso, John Bunch and Bucky, of course. For some reason, Dizzy Gillespie walked in, and I almost fainted, I was so nervous. Maybe he was recording at Rudy Van Gelder’s nearby and wanted to check us out.
JW: Did you have a good high school big band?
HA: We had an excellent music program. The junior high and high school were in the same building, and I was asked to play in the high school band while I was still in junior high. The orchestral band won many New England competitions. And the big band was very good, too. We used lots of Sammy Nestico arrangements, though we didn’t have the black, floppy acetate discs he had included years earlier. One year I played lead alto with the big band, but the rest of the time I played tenor. Once out of high school, I quickly gave up the alto, clarinet and soprano for the good of humanity.
JW: Why did you choose Rutgers University?
HA: I chose Rutgers for the strangest of reasons. In Rhode Island we lived in a very small town during my junior high and high school years. I didn’t like the small-town aspect of it and wanted to attend a large college. I wasn’t ready to live in New York but wanted a school that wasn’t going to keep me busy every minute of the day the way Berkeley in Boston or Juilliard in New York would. I also knew that college wasn’t where I was going to learn my craft. Going to New York clubs and hearing the greats was how to do that. Rutgers seemed like a good choice, since it was fairly close to the city.
JW: Did you know in advance that it had a good music program?
HA: I didn’t know anything at all about it. The school, of course, turned out to have a very good program and getting to know, hear and play with piano instructor Kenny Barron was truly amazing. While I was still in college, Kenny hired me to play on a Sony recording with him and singer Bobbie Norris. It was recorded for Sony at the great RCA studios in Manhattan. That was my first recording and it was a huge thrill.
JW: As an early working musician, did you feel college was in the way?
HA: By the time I was a junior, I was working so much that getting up for morning classes was starting to be a drag. Plus, the great drummer Oliver Jackson wanted to take me on the road, but not while I was in college. I very nearly dropped out of school to be taken along. My parents talked me into staying and completing my bachelor’s degree. I was very glad when college was over.
JW: How did you learn to arrange?
HA: Though I took some arranging classes at Rutgers, I didn’t get seriously into arranging until much later. I wrote my first big band arrangement in high school, but I didn’t know how to write for trombones. I wound up transposing them one octave lower than I wanted. The arrangement sounded frightfully bad, and it put me off arranging for a long time. I wonder if my my career would have been different had I just told the trombones to take the parts up an octave. I probably would have gotten serious about arranging much earlier.
JW: Did other arrangers inspire you?
HA: I’ve always been fascinated by the great arrangers. Eventually, I was determined to get serious about it. Johnny Mandel told me that arranging is an exercise in trial and error. If you write something you like, write it again. If you write something you don’t like, don’t do it again.
JW: Tell me about your new album, With Roses. What’s the significance of the title?
HA: Some years back, composer Roger Frankham put together a record date for which I was hired as a sideman. That’s how we first met. I liked his songs, and he liked my playing, so we collaborated on a few other projects. When we talked about this one, I suggested we come at half the songs from a jazz angle and the other half from more of a vocalist-with-orchestra vibe. We decided to have two recording days: one with two tenors, two trumpets and a trombone and one with two flutes, two clarinets and a bass clarinet.
JW: How did vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan come to the projects?
HA: Lucy is one of my favorite singers today and was a natural choice for the vocals. She did an incredible job singing these songs, which, of course, were completely new to her before this project. With Roses is one of my favorite songs on the CD but also made a lovely CD title. The original artwork on the packaging is painted by my wife, Ivana Falconi. She’s great.
JW: Your arrangements are terrific How long did they take?
HA: Thank you very much! I wrote one arrangement each day for 10 days straight to complete them. My main concern, of course, was to be true to the composer’s music and the intended feel and atmosphere of each song. Obviously, the goal was to try to make each song sound as great as possible and support Lucy’s vocals in the best way possible. Here in Rome is an arrangement I’m especially proud of. That was super fun to write.
JW: What are your three favorite Paul Gonsalves tracks and three favorite Scott Hamilton tracks?
HA: For Paul Gonsalves, they would be Happy Reunion, from Ellington at Newport 1958; Where or When and Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue. For Scott Hamilton, I’d say, My Foolish Heart from Tenorshoes; I Can’t Believe You’re In Love With Me. from The Scott Hamilton Quintet in Concert; and Crazy Rhythm from The Grand Appearance.
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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