JD Allen - Queen City (July 9, 2021 HighNote/Savant)

"A really powerful solo album from JD Allen – maybe the first we've ever heard from the tenor saxophonist, and a set that's got a very different vibe than some of his recent outings with groups! Allen recorded the music during the height of lockdown in 2020, at a time when he'd had to step back from performing live and collaborating with others – a moment he used to get back to basics on his instrument, and begin to re-explore all the things that first made being a saxophonist so important to him. There's definitely a sense of isolation and melancholy here – as you might expect – but there's also a feeling of hope and new inspiration, a quiet message from a dark time that's great to have on record."

DUSTY GROOVE

"... he kept things spare, treating the process as an extension of the soul-searching he’d done in the early days of lockdown. “Mother,” an Allen original, starts with a three-note pattern that spins almost into a drone before he leaps off into free improvisation, zagging and curling and, later, painfully scraping his notes, as if to pry them open."

GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO, NEW YORK TIMES PLAYLIST (7.9.21)

JD ALLEN'S RESPONSE TO A PERIOD OF DEEP INTROSPECTION

LONG AWAITED SOLO TENOR SAXOPHONE ALBUM

“QUEEN CITY" WILL BE RELEASED JULY 9, 2021

ON THE HIGH NOTE/SAVANT LABEL

Tenor Saxophonist and Composer JD Allen’s 15th release as a leader, Queen City (July 9, 2021 on High Note/Savant SCD 2194), is a continuation of the tenor titans uncompromisingly bold signature sound cultivated in his prolific and consistent body of work. 

The New York Times praised Allen's “fearless approach to a formidable tradition,”  as he has become known for his, “ragged, searching tone is redolent of jazz’s blues heritage, and his playing reflects his pedigree as a grandson of the Delta, a son of Detroit, and a leader of modern jazz.”

Making it clear that he spent a great deal of time during the Covid-19 pandemic thinking about “what to do with the time that is given us,"  Allen confides in the liner notes. 

“Performing music for and with people is what I do and I've come to the realization that an audience of listeners of any size is a part of the music; it's also a shared experience. Covid-19 changed that and forced me to try to remember why I started playing in the first place, the years before I started performing and recording.”

The tenor saxophonist's response to his period of introspection is this current recording of solo tenor saxophone, is a recording full of stark, uncompromising power, affording some rare insight into the psyche of the performer.

“Mr. Allen is an essential voice on jazz’s landscape for both his force and his restraint, as well as for the beauty of his tenor saxophone’s sound….”

– Larry Blumenfeld, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

NY TIMES portrait of JD Allen in Giovanni Russonello’s “New Vanguard” Series

“…never one to ease up on the throttle…”

– Nate Chinen, WBGO/NPR

 

“Channeling an eruption of emotions,”

– DOWNBEAT

“The spirit of serious jazz tenor saxophone endures in JD Allen.”

– JAZZTIMES

JD ALLEN has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air, in The Atlantic, in The New York Times and hailed by one of JDs first champions, jazz critic Ben Ratliff as, “a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style,” JD Allen is one of the most thoughtful jazz saxophonists on the scene today. Winner of the 2020 Composer of the Year in Downbeat, JazzTimes & NPR polls in categories including NPR’s Best Jazz of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, Composer of the Year and Rising Star of the Year and JJA Winner for Short Form Jazz News Documentary, Mario Lathan, for VICTORY! – The Making of JD Allen’s Victory! in 2012. The Detroit natives apprenticeship has largely been in New York, where he has performed, recorded, and toured with legends running the gamut from Betty Carter and Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris to contemporaries Meshell Ndegeocello. Since making a strong impression in his early years in New York and serving an invaluable tenure with Carter, JD has come a long way - now fully possessed of his own sound. JD has appeared on WNYC, NPR, WBGO, WKCR and festivals and venues worldwide including headlining at New York’s Village Vanguard, Newport, North Sea, Saratoga and Summerstage/Charlie Parker Jazz Festivals, among others. At the request of saxophone colossus, Sonny Rollins and filmmaker Dick Fontaine, JD was invited to open up ceremonies for the screening of the lauded, “Sonny Rollins – Beyond The Notes” at The 2013 Woodstock Film Festival to great acclaim. JD also appeared in Fontaine’s documentary on Betty Carter some 20 years ago, New All The Time.

Off the bandstand, Allen is a compelling educator and activist. He is a founder of We Insist!, a nonprofit jazz and Black arts action community and their sister organization, We Up - Re Up, a collective of jazz musicians whose primary goal is to foster jazz performance curating opportunities within non-traditional inner city and rural performance settings. 2021 saw a collaboration with Maya Cunningham and the Du Bois Black Music Project, presenting the inaugural season of “Fire Fridays: The Cats Talk Back,” from the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts.

Dear Listener,

 

Writing the liner notes for Queen City has proven to be just as challenging as finding and playing the right material for this recording. I felt that it was important that I write directly To Whom It May Concern about our most recent (outside of music) shared experience and new reality that concerns us all. Can’t imagine that the lay person saw Covid-19 coming but it came and changed all of our lives in many different variations and degrees, so in all honesty the thought of writing just about the music seemed small. Once the news broke about the Global pandemic and the world shut down as we have come to know it, I spent the first couple of months after justifying my thinking by attaching “what's the point of?” to my every thought and action. I was down, I'm pretty certain that I wasn't alone in thinking like that. Maybe I should say you and I were down. Whenever I got to thinking “what's the point of practicing my saxophone,” or “what’s the point of thinking about music,” a feeling of guilt or “how dare you think of that!” feeling came over me.  Performing music for and with people is what I do and I've come to the realization that an audience of listeners of any size is a part of the music; it’s also a shared experience. Covid-19 changed that and forced me to try to remember why I started playing in the first place, the years before I started performing and recording. 

 

Every musician starts out playing alone at the beginning, with hopes of one day being able to perform with others. An important aspect of playing Jazz, at least in my opinion, is being able to adapt to situations presented by your bandmates or being part of a collective story that's being told through music in real time.

 

It becomes another situation when you’re alone, when the story has to come only from you.  In 2020 live performances had been cancelled due to Covid-19 and it was unknown in the beginning if musicians would even be able to record together in a studio situation.  So once again I was faced with the “what's the point of?” question. Getting in touch with the reason of why I started playing the saxophone in the first place was the only way out of this what's-the-point cycle I was caught in. I needed to find my why again, the why before everything. Playing the saxophone started out for me as a way to release feelings that I couldn't express verbally, even in the beginning when all I could make were sounds.

 

At that point I realized that it’s just the saxophone and me and I needed to keep dreaming if I'm going to mentally make it through this. It's not about dreaming to escape reality, it's about making hope my center. Dreaming is the projector and movie screen for hope. Practicing the saxophone became my dream in motion. It became evident very quickly that I needed to learn how to tell a story on my saxophone alone, with no bass and drums, but completely alone.  The early part of our shared experience forced me to try to adapt to this new reality. Like any new musical endeavor, studying other artists (Jazz and Classical) who have made solo saxophone recordings was very important.

It was important for me to hear how other saxophonists approached this endeavor. Having a relationship with space (musical and actual performance space) seemed to be the one common thread.  But that is easier said than done.  I've learned a lot from this whole experience and will continue to work on new things, both musical and personal, that I've learned from this.

 

I tried to structure the recording as if it was a mural, each composition whether it was an original or a standard was performed as vignettes. The goal being that each song can stand on its own and inhabit a certain amount of space but also belonging to a bigger picture and a complete story when the recording is listened to in its entirety.   

 

I do hope you enjoy this recording and I really appreciate you taking the time to listen.

 

With love and solidarity in all things that are true.

 

JD Allen

Pre Order Queen City

JD Allen "Who Owns This Culture?" | Jazz and Social Justice: A Salon with Music Vol. 14 : The National Museum in Harlem : Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 7pm

Vol. 14: JD Allen – Who Owns This Culture?

Jazz and Social Justice: A Salon with Music

This event is presented on the Museum FACEBOOK and YOUTUBE page.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

7:00 pm

Facebook Live

Performance - JD ALLEN TRIO w/Justin Dawson & Cedric Easton

Discussion - JD, NASHEET WAITS & ALEXIS LOMBRE

Curated & Hosted by Larry Blumenfeld

The legacy of and audience for jazz culture relies on access to the music. The story of the music depends on who does the telling, how it’s told and who’s there to listen. Jazz’s lineage relies on education, equity and a community. JD Allen is an essential voice on jazz’s landscape for both his force and his restraint, as well as for the beauty of his tenor saxophone’s sound. Off the bandstand, Allen is a co-founder of We Insist!, a jazz and arts action community and their sister organization, We UP – Re UP.

For this virtual edition of the “Jazz and Social Justice” series, Allen will lead his trio, with bassist Justin Dawson and drummer Cedric Easton, through a hard-swinging performance. Following the music, in discussion with host Larry Blumenfeld, Allen, drummer Nasheet Waits, and pianist Alexis Lombre will talk about equity, opportunity and outreach, and about how best to uphold jazz’s legacy.

JD Allen:

Hailed by the New York Times as “a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style,” JD Allen is a bright light on today’s international jazz scene, with 14 albums as a leader to his credit. His unique and compelling voice on the instrument – the result of a patient and painstaking confrontation with the fundamentals of the art – has earned Allen years of critical attention signaling his ascension to the upper ranks of the contemporary jazz world.

Originally from Detroit, Allen’s apprenticeship, anchored by his lengthy tenure with Betty Carter, occurred largely in New York, where he worked with legends Lester Bowie, George Cables, Ron Carter, Louis Hayes, Frank Foster Big Band, Winard Harper, Dave Douglas, Cindy Blackman, Butch Morris, David Murray, Wallace Roney, Rufus Reid and Geri Allen. Allen’s most recent album, “Toys / Die Dreaming” (High Note/Savant), extends his singular and well-honed approach to the trio. His solo saxophone release, “Queen City,” will be released in 2021. Off the bandstand, Allen is a co-founder of We Insist!, a jazz and arts action community and their sister organization, We UP – Re UP, a collective of jazz musicians whose primary goal is to foster jazz performance curating opportunities within non-traditional inner city and rural performance settings.

Jazz and Social Justice:

This ongoing series connects the music we love with the social and political issues that matter to us all. Each salon blends live performance with conversation between artists, activists, and experts. Curated and hosted by journalist Larry Blumenfeld, whose NJMIH programs during the past dozen years have considered Afro-Cuban influence within New York’s jazz scene and contemporary New Orleans.

Jacob Duncan Quintet (feat. JD Allen) - It's Alright To Dream (2018)

Jacob Duncan's It's Alright To Dream is a tour de force, a moment of pure earthy connection. Duncan has created an environment that celebrates some of his personal heroes, as well as the complexity of individualism and place. Duncan and his musical companions put it all on the table, moving through the celebrations with humor, intensity, swinging authenticity, and unencumbered soul.

There are no shortages of risk and conversation in this collection of compositions and improvisations based squarely in the tradition and spirit of jazz, blues, and storytelling. The individualism on display is memorable, abstract, and organic.

Jacob Duncan - alto saxophone/composer

JD Allen - tenor saxophone

John Goldsby - bass

Gabriel Evens - piano

Mike Hyman - drums

1. Oomamaboomba Boulevard 06:18

2. Cartoons 05:47

3. Don't Count The Days 07:29

4. It's Alright To Dream 05:25

5. Dear Isadora 05:58

6. Nached Up 06:02

7. Kentucky Mud Shuffle 06:04

Dan Karlsberg / JD Allen / Tom Buckley - Tales from the Winter Solstice (2018)

"Tales from the Winter Solstice" is Dan Karlsberg's 4th release as a leader. It is his first album featuring the instrumentation of piano/saxophone/drums. All music on the album is written by Karlsberg, and is a delicate mix of fully written out music and improvisation coexisting together in an unorthodox way. "Tales" features beautiful melodies juxtaposed with powerful, sometimes dissonant improvisations. It is also an opportunity to hear the great saxophonist JD Allen perform in a context you wont hear elsewhere.

JD Allen - tenor sax

Dan Karlsberg - piano

Tom Buckley - drums

1. Movement II for Two Violins 07:40

2. Death of a Balloon 03:15

3. Conflict 05:05

4. The First Snowfall 05:44

5. Epic of Arushi, and Her Younger Brother Ansh 07:59

6. Chorale for Bud Powell 07:55

7. How the West was Lost 03:51

Dan Karlsberg

Cincinnati, Ohio

From Cincinnati, Dan Karlsberg is an active performer, composer, and teacher. He currently has 4 albums under his own name, and has worked with such artists as Donald Harrison, Tim Warfield, JD Allen, Ignacio Berroa, Carl Allen, among many others. Karlsberg is currently an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

AVAILABLE TODAY + appearing tonight at Hasselblad (solo) & Monday at NuBlu 151 (trio) :: Tenor Saxophonist JD Allen Releases "LOVE STONE" :: Long Awaited Ballad Record on Savant/High Note June 15, 2018

RSVP for Hasselblad, 6.15, HERE

TICKETS FOR LPR Presents at NuBlu, JDA3, Monday, 6.18, HERE

+ JDA3 APPEARING ON WBGO THIS MONDAY, 6.18 *LIVE* ON WBGO’S AFTERNOON JAZZ WITH BILL DAUGHTERY AT 4PM– please TUNE IN!

“If you’d like to measure an improviser’s sincerity under a harsh light, ask him to play an entire album’s worth of ballads. Without quick tempos or ready-made energy to lighten the load, cracks reveal themselves quickly. But this tenor saxophonist has somehow managed to pull it off. He plays in a style guided closely by his antecedents — Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Branford Marsalis — but it’s personal and steadfast enough to establish its own convictions. At Nublu 151, Mr. Allen celebrates the release of “Love Stone” — nine ballads, mostly sourced from the back pages of the great American songbook — joined by the bassist Gregg August and the drummer Rudy Royston.” – GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO, NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS’ PICK (6.15)

“The first thing that comes to mind when you think of tenor saxophonist JD Allen may well be power — the full-toned, heavy-tread intensity he can bring to any musical setting. But on his new album, Love Stone, he seeks out beauty in the most straightforward form, with tenderness and low-flickering calm… it’s an all-ballads affair, but one with plenty of swirling intrigue underfoot….the smoke of his tone and the drawl of his phrasing, which remains rooted in melody.” – NATE CHINEN, WBGO’S TAKE FIVE

“The tenor saxophonist and composer JD Allen is at the zenith of the jazz saxophone scale, which isn’t difficult to understand when you hear him play. He has a big bold tone like Sonny Rollins that runs through your soul, and then you are hooked…“Love Stone” is a collection of ballads that gives him an extended opportunity to spread a little tenderness.” – RON SCOTT, THE AMSTERDAM NEWS

“…an abiding emotional inclusiveness to the album that allows listeners to feel unrestrictedly in on the affair.” – DEREK TAYLOR, DUSTED

“All those marvelously deep notes are imprinted on our minds, uttered with warm tones and infallible precision. They uplift the spirit...In a quietly revolutionary mode, JD deftly reimagines familiar tunes with a sharp, affective, and pragmatic vision. The pristine glow of his saxophone brings us back the joy of listening to these sweet old songs. Tradition has its place in the modern jazz and this impressive album is probably what your ears have been aching for.” – FELIPE FREITAS, JAZZTRAIL

“JD Allen plays Vanguard tenor; worthy of comparison to Sonny and Coltrane with Elvin at the Vanguard, the music that got to me as a teenager and has stayed with me ever since…JD’s concept, his sound and his execution took me there.” – BOB BLUMENTHAL, lauded jazz critic & author of Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins

“… this beautiful and intensely interesting ballads album is an assured milestone in his career to date. There are patented JD-isms…proves again that it is one of the most highly accomplished small groups in contemporary jazz.” – REPUBLIC OF JAZZ

“Passion & Poetry….There was an emotional depth to Allen’s playing that transformed blues lines into poetry….melody counts mightily to him, whether written or improvised...grace and passion…” - Bill Beuttler, THE BOSTON GLOBE

“I wanted to play as avant garde as I, myself, could get in today’s dark times - by simply trying to play something beautiful.” – JD ALLEN

PROLIFIC, THOUGHTFUL TENOR SAXOPHONIST/COMPOSER JD ALLEN RELEASES LONG-AWAITED BALLAD RECORD “LOVE STONE” WITH HIS QUARTET ON SAVANT RECORDS JUNE 15, 2018

GORGEOUS COLLECTION OF RENEWED SIREN SONGS FEATURING LIBERTY ELLMAN ON GUITAR ALONGSIDE GREGG AUGUST ON BASS AND RUDY ROYSTON ON DRUMS,

THE VETERAN BANDMATES WHO HELPED SPARK A FLAME FOR PIANOLESS TRIO A DECADE AGO

JD’S SIGNATURE “LOVE TONE” PREVAILS AND IS GUIDED BY THE CONTINUUM OF HIS CLASSIC TRIO PLUS ONE

One of the most prolific, thoughtful and consistent tenor saxophonists gracing the scene today, JD Allen, will release his long-awaited Ballad record, LOVE STONE (or Loves Tone!), on the Savant Recording label, June 15, 2018. A gorgeous collection of ballads harkening back to yesteryear and played with the subtlety and grace that has become the JD Allen signature sound. His most selfless album to date, JD’s goal was to simply make “beautiful music in an ugly ass world.” His only requirement ton himself, was to “play pretty”.  With beauty in mind and at the forefront, this album is for the people and made especially for them in today’s crazy times. “I wanted to play as avant garde as I, myself, could get in today’s dark times by simply trying to play something beautiful.”

For a decade now, tenor saxophonist JD Allen has anchored his eponymous trio, supported by drummer Rudy Royston and bassist Gregg August. Allen’s ragged, searching tone is redolent of jazz’s blues heritage, and his playing reflects his pedigree as a grandson of the Delta, a son of Detroit, and a leader of modern jazz. The New York Times praised Allen’s “fearless approach to a formidable tradition.”

Love Stone features JDs long standing trio, known as “the three headed monster” (Burning Ambulance) plus special guest, guitarist Liberty Ellman (Henry Threadgill, Vijay Iyer) adding new colors to each ballad. The collection of ballads from the opening Tony  Bennett classic, Stranger in Paradise, to the American Folk music ballad originating from Appalachia, “Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies”, the album plays like a love letter to the listener that, in fact, JD included into his liner notes. His most personal statement to date, the artist wears his heart on his sleeve throughout this stunning collection.

“Originals didn’t feel like being original anymore,” explains JD Allen on why he took a departure to record a record filled with some of the most beautiful ballads ever written. “I had a desire to play like a singer and really incorporate some vocalist qualities into my playing this time. I really just wanted to try and play beautiful….no math and science….a great melody, great tone and instead of making a ‘musician’ record this time around, I decided to make this one FOR THE PEOPLE.”

“The spirit of serious jazz tenor saxophone endures in JD Allen.” – JAZZTIMES

JD has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air, in The Atlantic, in The New York Times (on the blues) and hailed by one of JDs first champions, jazz critic Ben Ratliff as, “a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style,” JD Allen is one of the most thoughtful jazz saxophonists on the scene today. Winner of Downbeat, JazzTimes & NPR polls in categories including NPR’s Best Jazz of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, Composer of the Year and Rising Star of the Year and JJA WINNER Short Form Jazz News Documentary, Mario Lathan, for VICTORY! – The Making of JD Allen’s Victory in 2012. “For roughly a decade, the tenor saxophonist J. D. Allen has accomplished what is now a rarity in jazz: He has held together a trio without reshuffling its personnel — deepening a collective language and sharpening his voice as an improviser” (The New York Times).  The Detroit natives apprenticeship has largely been in New York, where he has performed, recorded, and toured with legends running the gamut from Betty Carter and Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris to contemporaries Meshell Ndegeocello. Since making a strong impression in his early years in New York and serving an invaluable tenure with Betty Carter, JD has come a long way - now fully possessed of his own sound. JD has appeared on WNYC’S Leonard Lopate Show, NPR's Jazz Perspectives, WNYC's Soundcheck, WKCR's Musician's Show and festivals and venues worldwide including headlining at New York’s Village Vanguard, Newport, Saratoga and Summerstage/Charlie Parker Jazz Festivals, among others. At the request of saxophone colossus, Sonny Rollins and filmmaker Dick Fontaine, JD was invited to open up ceremonies for the screening of the lauded, “Sonny Rollins – Beyond The Notes” at The 2013 Woodstock Film Festival to great acclaim. JD also appeared in Fontaine’s documentary on Betty Carter some 20 years ago.  JD Allen performs regularly with his own trio and quartet, featuring guitarist Liberty Ellman.

JD ALLEN featured on WBGO's 'TAKE FIVE' today + Please RSVP for Friday (6.15) @ Hasselblad + Tix/RSVP for NuBlu 151 (6.18) #LPRPresents

Five New Views on Standards, By JD Allen, Tia Fuller, Thumbscrew, Peter Evans, and Gene Jackson

Photo: Bart Babinski Ⓒ 2018

JD Allen, “Until the Real Thing Comes Along”

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of tenor saxophonist JD Allen may well be power — the full-toned, heavy-tread intensity he can bring to any musical setting. But on his new album, Love Stone, he seeks out beauty in the most straightforward form, with tenderness and low-flickering calm.

“Until the Real Thing Comes Along,” from JD Allen's album 'Love Stone'

Featuring Allen’s longtime rhythm team of bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston, smartly augmented by Liberty Ellman on guitar, it’s an all-ballads affair, but one with plenty of swirling intrigue underfoot. Listen to this version of “Until the Real Thing Comes Along,” a song first published in 1936, and you’re likely to notice Allen’s tip of the hat to Dexter Gordon, both in the smoke of his tone and the drawl of his phrasing, which remains rooted in melody. (Ellman carries himself with distinction too, in his comping and during a solo that begins about two-and-a-half minutes in.)

Love Stone is due out on Savant this Friday, and the JD Allen Trio will appear at Nublu on June 18. Allen will also be featured soon on WBGO’s Afternoon Jazz.

RSVP BY THIS WEDNESDAY, 6.13

Please join us for this very special evening on June 15th from 6-9pm at the new Hasselblad Experience Studio to celebrate the release of JD’s stunning collection of ballads, LOVE STONE along with the photographs and short film that were shot along with these siren songs, hitting the streets the morning of June 15 on Savant/HighNoteRecords.

Collector’s photos and CDs will be for sale with part of the proceeds going to help fuel the dreams of future photographers and musicians around the world; both charities of the artists and photographers choice will be announced ahead of the evening.

This event will lead us into our LPR presents NUBLU (151 Ave C) CD Celebration on Monday, June 18th at 8pm & 10pm. Doors at 7pm. This official NYC CD release event will feature JDs trio, “…the almost telepathic, three-headed machine, making some of the most exciting jazz around” (Burning Ambulance) with Gregg August on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.

Come and celebrate with us for a few nights kicking off at Hasselblad in NOHO with JDs gorgeous solo saxophone, short film/slide show premiere, collection of photos by photographer Bart Babinski, Love Stone CDs, light snacks, summer drinks, good vibes + good company on release day and then again on Monday, June 18th when LPRPresents at NuBlu 151 two sets with the JD ALLEN TRIO featuring Gregg August & Rudy Royston.

**RSVP FOR JUNE 15TH ASAP** --- SEATING IS LIMITED.

6.15 RSVP for HASSELBLAD EVENT: HERE

6.18 NUBLU/LPRPresents Event Page

6.18 FACEBOOK EVENT - NUBLU/LPRPresents

Looking forward to seeing you everywhere!

LPR presents The JD Allen Trio "Love Stone" Record Release Event at NuBlu (151 Avenue C) :: Monday, June 18 @ 8pm & 10pm *doors at 7pm

$15 advance / $20 at door

TICKETS: HERE

THE CRITICS ARE SPEAKING!

“JD Allen plays Vanguard tenor; worthy of comparison to Sonny and Coltrane with Elvin at the Vanguard, the music that got to me as a teenager and has stayed with me ever since…JD’s concept, his sound and his execution took me there.”

– BOB BLUMENTHAL, lauded jazz critic & author of Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins

“… this beautiful and intensely interesting ballads album is an assured milestone in his career to date. There are patented JD-isms…proves again that it is one of the most highly accomplished small groups in contemporary jazz.”

– REPUBLIC OF JAZZ

“Passion & Poetry….There was an emotional depth to Allen’s playing that transformed blues lines into poetry….melody counts mightily to him, whether written or improvised...grace and passion…”

– Bill Beuttler, THE BOSTON GLOBE

JD ALLEN / BART BABINSKI Kick-Off Day In Celebration of *LOVE STONE* (6.15, Savant) at NYC's Hasselblad Experience Studio on 6.15 from 6-9pm *RSVP ONLY* + NUBLU 151 on 6.18 at 8pm & 10pm

Please join us for this very special evening on June 15th from 6-9pm at the new Hasselblad Experience Studio to celebrate the release of JD’s stunning collection of ballads, LOVE STONE along with the photographs and short film that were shot along with these siren songs, hitting the streets the morning of June 15 on Savant/High Records. Collector’s photos and CDs will be for sale with part of the proceeds going to help fuel the dreams of future photographers and musicians around the world; both charities of the artists and photographers choice will be announced ahead of the evening.

This event will lead us into our LPR presents NUBLU (151 Ave C) CD Celebration on Monday, June 18th at 8pm & 10pm. Doors at 7pm. This official NYC CD release event will feature JDs trio, “…the almost telepathic, three-headed machine, making some of the most exciting jazz around” (Burning Ambulance) with Gregg August on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.

Come and celebrate with us for a few nights kicking off at Hasselblad in NOHO with JDs gorgeous solo saxophone, short film/slide show premiere, collection of photos by photographer Bart Babinski, Love Stone CDs, light snacks, summer drinks, good vibes + good company on release day and then again on Monday, June 18th when LPR presents at NuBlu 151 two sets with the JD ALLEN TRIO featuring Gregg August & Rudy Royston.

**RSVP FOR JUNE 15TH ASAP** --- SEATING IS LIMITED

6.15 RSVP for HASSELBLAD EVENT: HERE

6.18 NUBLU/LPR PRESENTS Event Page

6.18 FACEBOOK EVENT - NUBLU/LPR Presents

JD Allen - Love Stone (SAVANT RECORDS June 15, 2018)

Tenor saxophonist JD Allen's output on Savant Records has been steady since his 2012 album The Matador and the Bull, and this beautiful and intensely interesting ballads album is an assured milestone in his career to date. There are patented JD-isms: that almost operatic-like swoon and smear of tone; deconstructed themes full of non-linearity and melodic asides arriving unforeseen. As in all of Allen's recordings, there is also a spare Chopin-like quality, with a shadowy, crepuscular character to much of the material. An album made up entirely of ballads requires a first-rate harmonic foundation and guitarist Liberty Ellman once again proves himself to be the most sensitive of accompanists, alternating between full harmonic richness and skittering, almost pointillistic lines which merely hint at the harmonies. The depth of Allen's timbre and phrasing is such that the absence of a keyboard is not really felt, and his quartet proves again that it is one of the most highly accomplished small groups in contemporary jazz.

1. Stranger in Paradise

2. Until the Real Thing Comes Along

3. Why Was I Born

4. You're My Thrill

5. Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies

6. Put on a Happy Face

7. Prisoner of Love

8. Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)

9. Gone with the Wind

JD Allen, tenor saxophone

Liberty Ellman, guitar

Gregg August, bass

Rudy Royston, drums

JD Allen - Radio Flyer (2017)

JD Allen - Americana (2016)

Label: 

Source:  Dusted Magazine

Genre: Post-bop/Free Jazz

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

Measured from its title on down, Americana marks an auspicious return to roots for tenorist JD Allen. A welcome reunion of his core trio with bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston, it’s also an explicit homage to the bottomless reservoir of musical and cultural precedence from which they draw and transform. Central to that creative process is the blues, the protean American song form that’s been integral to each of Allen’s previous efforts, but is arguably at its apogee throughout the nine piece program presented here.

“Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil” swaggers along on a capaciously-girthed bass line and the steady sway of Royston’s rolling beat as Allen’s tenor testifies on top. The rich throaty cry that underlies his phrases harkens directly back to the kind of Texas-honed tenor that was the parlance of Booker Ervin, deeply emotive, but devoid of dime-a-dozen sentimentality. “Cotton” carries the substantial contextual weight of its title on August’s lush strings and Allen’s somber melodic delivery. Royston fills in the edges with clipped snare and cymbal accents and the three players trace a winding, darkly swinging path through figurative plantation acreage. The closing “Lillie Mae Jones” sits at the opposite side of the impassioned spectrum with a sunny Coltrane-reminiscent motif serving as improvisational spark and tinder.

“Bigger Thomas” and “Lightin’” both work as vivid musical portraits of their respective titular personages. The first references Richard Wright’s predestined literary protagonist with a bright thematic line that repeatedly folds back in on itself against a percolating rhythm to echo the inevitability brought about by societal conditioning. The Texas bluesman answering to the surname Hopkins gets tribute tinged with contrasting optimism on the second. Once again August and Royston are each instrumental in framing Allen’s expressive leads with both weight and texture. The title piece spools out from a blunt bass strum bracketed by cymbals as tenor modulates moodily between light and dark.

Allen positions two telling covers alongside the seven originals. Vera Hall’s “Another Man Done Gone” has an indeterminate date of compositional origin, but a field recording made by Alan Lomax in 1940 preserved the piece for posterity. As channeled into sound through Allen’s downcast horn, August’s resonant arco ribbons and Royston’s tumbling mallets, the resigned melancholy behind Hall’s anecdotal lyrics remain intact. Bill McHenry, a saxophonist colleague of Allen’s, is the source for “If You’re Lonesome, You’re Not Alone” the sole piece that operates independently of conventional blues structures. As with earlier Allen outings, adherence to customary LP length all but ensures the immediate impulse to cue the itinerary up again for a repeat performance.

Derek Taylor

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Jaimeo Brown Transcendence - Work Songs (2016)

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence’s Work Songs Resurrects

Stories of Workers and Prisoners Worldwide in a

Call to Action During Tense Times in America

Album Fuses Jazz, Hip Hop, and Blues on

12 Sample-Heavy Original Tracks 

Available February 12, 2016 on Motéma Music

At a time where it feels like history is repeating itself and the world has lost its way, drummer, composer, educator and activist Jaimeo Brown asks, “What is important?” For Brown, the answer is to tell the unheard stories in the name of those who need them. To tell the stories of life and the human experience. To tell the stories of the forgotten: to honor the workers and the music of their lives. February 12, 2016 marks the release of Work Songs, the second installment in the Jaimeo Brown Transcendence series. “Work Songs represents us,” Brown explains. “It’s our human journey of transcending the difficult.”

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence is the product of long-time collaboration between Brown and co-producer/guitarist Chris Sholar (who won a GRAMMY® Award for his work on Kanye West and Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne). Both emerging from a generation that appreciates the jazz in hip-hop, the artists with whom this duo has collaborated with speaks for itself. Brown, as drummer, has sat behind the skins for Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Q-Tip, Carl Craig, Kenny Garrett, Geri Allen, and Bobby Hutcherson, among others. Sholar’s work as guitarist and producer has spanned the likes of Beyonce, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, A Tribe Called Quest, Robert Glasper, D’Angelo, Just Blaze, Common, Dr. Dre and more.

The digital tapestry that birthed Work Songs also hosts several contributors: Jaleel Shaw and JD Allen on alto and tenor saxophone, respectively; legendary soul and blues vocalist Lester Chambers; the Gee’s Bend Quilters (who were the central focus of Jaimeo Brown Transcendence’s debut album), and rising star keyboardists BIG YUKI and James Francies.

More than just music, Jaimeo Brown Transcendence is a movement, a moment, and an imperative: home to a variety of collaborators and contributors, from different eras and across the globe. Work Songs is a call to action, a call to transcend: transcend traditional limits of creativity; transcend oppression; transcend to come together through the essential humanity that unites us. Work Songs samples the unknown laborer, the jailhouse, the coal miner, gandy dancer, and stonemason. The album resonates with echoes of protest and rhythms of a call to freedom.

Borne of oppression and sung in conditions of hardship, the music is visceral but inherently uplifting. It weaves the present through the past to the future, teaching us how to transcend an immediate suffering through strength and mutual support. “The music of Transcendence, on a social scale, allows us to reach out to communities and help restore culture and identity. Work Songs tells powerful stories of perseverance and human ingenuity,” explains Brown. “Tales of enduring communities through song, from African-American slaves to the stonemasons of Japan. These songs paint a picture of struggle we still feel today.”

In search of new sounds (which includes sampled sounds of construction outside of Brown’s own apartment), Work Songs deftly weaves together the acoustic and the digital, connecting jazz and classic blues with contemporary rock, hip-hop and electronic music.

“My goal is to create something that feels good, is soulful and speaks to hearts. Something spiritual and moving,” says Brown of his creative process. “I hope that people will be moved in the way I was when creating it.”

Through an exploration of differing global “scenes” (as Brown refers to the tracks), Work Songs depicts the tale of the human condition, that which make us all the same. The album is sonic cinema. “For Mama Lucy” is a powerful intersection between blues, rock and jazz. The track prominently features a sample of Leroy Grant, a prison inmate from the Parchman Farm Prison in Mississippi in 1959, grieving over a sick family member, singing the multiple emotions associated with love and death. The accompanying video juxtaposes Grant’s cry and a driving guitar riff with sensory-blowing visuals. Flashing images of oppression and injustice, which echo several overarching themes of Jaimeo Brown Transcendence, overwhelm the video’s protagonist.

“Be So Glad” showcases the divergent musical influences that typify Jaimeo Brown Transcendence. It at once exhibits the soulful-hip hop influence that underpins the group, highlighting also their drum and bass influences. The sample sounds workers using hoes in fields under a hot sun. The emotional chant repeats, the refrain lifting and falling with each effort.

“Safflower” imagines a young Japanese boy listening to records in his basement, discovering a cultural tradition of another lifetime, and celebrating it in his own time. The song also pays tribute to the resilience of a country surviving the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence was born when the drummer connected with JD Allen and Chris Sholar while in search for new forms of musical expressions. With an MPC salvaged from the garbage, the group sampled songs from the Gee’s Bend Quilters in Alabama for their debut eponymous album. The rest of the project grew organically from there and continues to flourish.

“When recording, our aspiration is always to marry art, history and technology so Transcendence can live as a music and movement that speaks to tomorrow, as well as yesterday,” explains Brown. “We created the album Work Songs to explore the interaction between work and music. It’s fascinating to see the variety of ways that music and work actually weave together.”

Brown’s view of the world is one of togetherness. His life, like his work, is a patchwork of people, cultures and examples of the great human potential for acceptance and integration. His early years were spent living on a Native American reservation in Arlee, Montana, a community in which the Native American voice was an ever-present part of the social dialogue. Later, as a teen amidst the aimless youth and gang culture of the Bay Area, Brown discovered multiculturalism within a west coast hip-hop culture shared and celebrated by a broad group of minorities. Inspired equally by the beats and samples of J Dilla, Dr. Dre, and DJ Premier, and the raw eloquence of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Art Blakey, he found shelter in creation: the epicenter of his spiritual awakening.

About Jaimeo Brown:

2013 marked the international debut of Jaimeo Brown: a fearless renegade; an artist who seeks new pathways for personal musical expression; an artist who honors a deep and broad lineage of musical and cultural traditions. With the release of Transcendence on Motéma Music, the drummer launched an international career—playing festivals including The Love Supreme Festival and London Jazz Festival—and garnered critical acclaim, earning a spot on year end lists for NPR, The Los Angeles Times, DownBeat, and more. Shortly after the release of the album, Jaimeo Brown Transcendence collaborated with eminent producers Carl Craig and Q-Tip to produce a remix with a radical recasting of “Mean World,” one of Transcendence’s singles.

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence • Work Songs

Motéma Music • Release Date: February 12, 2016

Jaimeo Brown: drums

Chris Sholar: guitar

Jaleel Shaw: alto sax

JD Allen: tenor sax

Lester Chambers vocals

Marisha Rodriguez: vocals

Lester Chambers: vocals

China Pettway: vocals

Mary Ann Pettway: vocals

Larine Pettway: vocals

Revil Mosley: vocals

Cadence Brown: vocals

Falu: vocals

Big Yuki: keyboards

James Francies: keyboards

Marcia Miget: flute

01. Hidden Angel 

02. Mississippi 

03. Lazarus 

04. Safflower 

05. Be So Glad 

06. Happy Serving 

07. 2113 

08. Moment of Rest 

09. For Mama Lucy 

10. Stonemason 

11. Paterson 

12. The Valley

Released February 12, 2016

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JD Allen - Graffiti (2015)

Graffiti, tenorist JD Allen’s ninth album as a leader and his fourth consecutive project for the Savant label, could be considered a back-to-basics affair. The piano component that altered his core trio concept is gone. His regular sidemen, bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston, are back on board. At this point their relationship the three players are so aligned and intuitively responsive to each other that the challenge for Allen amounts to devising variable means to confront and test these bonds while keeping the processes and outcomes accessible to an audience. Turn the focus too far inward and the risk becomes potential estrangement. It’s a balancing act that these musicians have become experts at accomplishing.

Allen’s also onto something with his candid self-penned liners, which begin with a sincere expression of gratitude to listeners for spending time with his music. Next come edifying annotations for the disc’s nine tracks that express his general intent and designs on each. That’s it. Yet another manifestation of the no-nonsense approach he’s become known for over the course of his career. The compositions reflect the same in aural form, presenting a series of friendly obstacle courses hinged on spontaneous and collective choice-making. Each piece presents a clear set of parameters while ensuring that the ensuing permutations retain both momentum and flexibility. Allen even inserts a (relatively) straightforward swinger “Indigo (Blue Like)” replete with a walking bass line almost as a palate cleanser.

August sits out on the opening “Naked” leaving Allen and Royston to negotiate a melodic progression within an illusory, but finite bar structure with explosive results. “Jawn Henry” references the eponymous folk song in feel with Allen going for a vocalized tone on his tenor against a vaguely calypso vamp. “Third Eye” sets up the instruments in potentially oppositional roles in the service of tension and the title piece takes the conceit even further in transposing a completely different piece on top of a preexisting tune to once again force the players to pick sides, this time with tenor and drums converging in confluent contrast to the bass, which tethers loyally to the original line.

Blues forms also factor prominently into the program with “Little Mack” and “Sonny Boy” reflecting two facets. The first works off an earlier melodic kernel while the second presents another example of Allen transposing another vocal syntax, this time based in the idiosyncratic inflections of John Lee Hooker, through his horn against a gospelish vamp. “G-dspeed, B. Morris” honors the titular composer, forgoing complexity in favor of a loping groove and lilting melody that carries distant echoes of Coltrane’s “Naima”. Once again August and Royston operate on parallel planes in buttressing Allen’s lead.

Three-quarters of an hour evaporates in a flash, but the LP-sized length feels just right. Rather than inciting a longing for additional material the impulse instead is for an immediate repeat trip through the itinerary that exists. Derek Taylor

JD Allen (tenor sax)

Gregg August (bass)

Rudy Royston (drums)

1. Naked

by Jd Allen

2. Jawn Henry

by Jd Allen

3. Third Eye

by Jd Allen

4. Graffiti

by Jd Allen

5. G-dspeed, B. Morris

by Jd Allen

6. Little Mack

by Jd Allen

7. Sonny Boy

by Allen, JD

8. Indigo (Blue Like)

by Jd Allen

9. Disambiguation

by Jd Allen

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