Results for "Allen Eager"

Allen Eager

Allen Eager (Jan. 10, 1927, New York City - May 13, 2003, Daytona Beach, Florida) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Eager first played jazz as a teenager during World War II in the bands of Bobby Sherwood, Sonny Dunham, Shorty Sherock, Hal McIntyre, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, and Johnny Bothwell. After the war he became a regular on the scene around 52nd Street in New York; he led his own ensemble there from 1946-48. In 1948 he played with Tadd Dameron, in 1951 with Gerry Mulligan, in 1952 with Terry Gibbs, and shortly after with Buddy Rich. From 1953 to 1955 he again led his own ensemble. He lived in Paris from 1956 to 1957 and returned to record with Mulligan in 1957; after this, he essentially retired from jazz. Eager mentioned the death of Charlie Parker and his problems with drug addiction as reasons for his withdrawal from the scene. He went on to pursue other activities such as skiing, competitive auto racing, and LSD experiments with Timothy Leary. He occasionally dabbled in music again, playing with Charles Mingus at the Newport Rebels festival in 1960 and with Frank Zappa in the 1970s. In 1982 he made a comeback with an album for Uptown Records, and toured with Dizzy Gillespie. He died in 2003.

Atlantic Records: More Giant Steps: An Alternative Top 20 Albums

By CHRIS MAY

Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun's Atlantic Records differs in one key respect from Prestige, Riverside, Impulse!, Strata-East and Flying Dutchman, the most prominent labels covered so far in this Building A Jazz Library series. Those labels' discographies consist almost exclusively of jazz. Atlantic had parallel interests in soul and rhythm-and-blues and, later, rock. This had consequences, as ...

Dave Brubeck: Small Groups, Large Stature

By JACK BOWERS

Dave Brubeck wasn't really a big-band kinda guy; in fact, he was seldom seen in groups larger than four or five. On the other hand, he was an extraordinary musician, one whose influence will no doubt be felt for generations to come. Brubeck, who remained active almost to the end of his life, died December 5 ...

Land of Oo-Bla-Dee

By ALLEN EAGER

Label: Uptown Records
Released: 2009

An Ace Face

By ALLEN EAGER

Label: Giant Step Records
Released: 2007
Track listing: CD1: Allen's Alley (AKA Wee); Rampage; Vot's Dot; Booby Hatch: Symphony Sid's Idea; Blues; The Goof And I; Sweet Georgia Brown; Daily Double; Nellie's Nightmare; All Night All Frantic; Donald Jay; Meeskite; And That's For Sure; 52nd Street Theme; Groovin' High; Good Bait; Anthropology; The Tadd Walk; Dameronia; Lady Bird. CD2: The Brothers; Mulligan's Too; Perdido; Zootcase; Muy; Salt; I'll Be Seeing You; Metropolitan Blues; Raintree Country; His Master's Voice; Old Hat; Blue Serenade; Let's Play The Blues; Vogue.

Allen Eager: An Ace Face

By NIC JONES

Allen Eager was one of those swing-through-bop tenor saxophonists who seem to have walked this earth in abundance in the late 1940s. An Ace Face is a two-disc set from that period, chronicling work both under his leadership and as a sideman. Within the canon of those players Eager was arguably the one who got closest ...