"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
