American jazz musician and band leader (1908?1967)
This article is about the jazz musician. For the bluegrass singer and guitarist, see
Red Allen (bluegrass)
.
Red Allen
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Birth name
| Henry James Allen
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Born
| (
1908-01-07
)
January 7, 1908
Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana
, U.S.
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Died
| April 17, 1967
(1967-04-17)
(aged 59)
New York City, New York, U.S.
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Genres
| Jazz
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Occupation(s)
| Musician
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Instrument(s)
| Trumpet
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Years active
| 1924?1967
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Musical artist
Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr.
(January 7, 1908 ? April 17, 1967) was an American
jazz
trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by
Joachim-Ernst Berendt
and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of
Louis Armstrong
.
[1]
[2]
Life and career
[
edit
]
Allen was born in the
Algiers
neighborhood of
New Orleans, Louisiana
, the son of the bandleader Henry Allen Sr. He took early trumpet lessons from
Peter Bocage
and
Manuel Manetta
.
Allen's career began in
Sidney Desvigne
's Southern Syncopators. He was playing professionally by 1924 with the Excelsior Brass Band and the jazz dance bands of
Sam Morgan
,
George Lewis
and
John Casimir
. After playing on riverboats on the
Mississippi River
, he went to Chicago in 1927 to join
King Oliver
's band.
[3]
Around this time he made recordings on the side in the band of
Clarence Williams
.
[3]
After returning briefly to New Orleans, where he worked with the bands of
Fate Marable
and
Fats Pichon
, he was offered a recording contract with
Victor Records
[3]
and went to New York City, where he joined the
Luis Russell
band, which was later fronted by
Louis Armstrong
in the late 1930s.
[4]
In 1929, Allen joined Luis Russell's Orchestra, in which he was a featured soloist until 1932.
[3]
He took part in recording sessions that year organized by
Eddie Condon
, some of which featured
Fats Waller
and
Tommy Dorsey
. He also made a series of recordings in late 1931 with
Don Redman
. In 1932 he recorded with the
Rhythmakers
in New York City. In 1933 he joined
Fletcher Henderson
's Orchestra, in which he stayed until 1934. He played with
Lucky Millinder
's
Mills Blue Rhythm Band
from 1934 to 1937, when he returned to Russell for three more years, by which time Russell's orchestra was fronted by
Louis Armstrong
.
[3]
Allen seldom received any solo space on recordings with Armstrong,
[3]
but was prominently featured in the band's live performances, even getting billing as a featured attraction.
[
citation needed
]
As a bandleader, Allen recorded for
Victor
from 1929 through 1930. He made a series of recordings as co-leader with
Coleman Hawkins
in 1933 for
ARC
(Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, etc.) and continued as an ARC recording artist through 1935, when he was moved to ARC's
Vocalion
label for a popular series of
swing
records from 1935 through late 1937. A number of these were popular at the time. He did a solitary session for
Decca
in 1940 and two sessions for
OKeh
in 1941. After World War II, he recorded for
Brunswick
in 1944,
Victor
in 1946, and
Apollo
in 1947.
[
citation needed
]
Allen continued making many recordings under his own name and also with Fats Waller and
Jelly Roll Morton
and accompanied such vocalists as
Victoria Spivey
and
Billie Holiday
. After a short stint with
Benny Goodman
, Allen began to lead his own band at the
Famous Door
in
Manhattan
. He then toured with the band around the United States into the late 1950s.
[
citation needed
]
In December 1957, Allen appeared with
Pee Wee Russell
on the television program
Sound Of Jazz
. In 1959, he made his first tour of Europe when he joined
Kid Ory
's band. He led the house band at New York's
Metropole Cafe
from 1954, until the club ceased its jazz policy in 1965.
Personal life and death
[
edit
]
Allen was
Catholic
.
[
citation needed
]
Allen returned to working under his own name and made numerous tours of the United States and Europe. He was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer
in late 1966. After undergoing surgery, he made a final tour of England, which ended six weeks before his death, on April 17, 1967, in New York City.
[3]
He is buried, in the newer section of
Saint Raymond's Cemetery
in the
Bronx
, in grave 52 of section 15.
[5]
He was survived by his widow, Pearly May, and a son, Henry Allen III.
Style and influence
[
edit
]
Allen's trumpet style has been described by
Joachim-Ernst Berendt
and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of
Louis Armstrong
, and to develop an emphasis on phrasing.
[1]
[2]
Allen's recordings received much favorable attention. His versatility is shown by his winning of
DownBeat
awards in both the traditional jazz and the modern jazz categories.
In 2022, the
New Orleans City Council
voted to rename "Slidell Street" in Algiers to "Red Allen Way", in his honor.
[6]
Discography
[
edit
]
- Red Allen, Kid Ory & Jack Teagarden at Newport
(
Verve
, 1957)
- Ride, Red, Ride in Hi-Fi
(
RCA Victor
, 1957), later re released as
World on a String
(1991)
- Mr. Allen
(Swingville, 1962)
- The College Concert
with
Pee Wee Russell
(
Impulse!
, 1966)
- Jazz Standards and Warhorses
, with
Coleman Hawkins
(Jass Records, CD version 1987)
- 1929?1933
(
Chronological Classics
540, 1990)
With
Langston Hughes
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Berendt, Joachim
(1976).
The Jazz Book
. Paladin. pp. 187?188.
- ^
a
b
Cook, Richard (2005).
Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia
. London: Penguin Books. p. 9.
ISBN
0-141-00646-3
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Colin Larkin
, ed. (1992).
The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz
(First ed.).
Guinness Publishing
. pp. 10?11.
ISBN
0-85112-580-8
.
- ^
Collier, James Lincoln
(1985).
Louis Armstrong
. Pan Books. p. 294.
ISBN
0-330-28607-2
.
- ^
Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons
, Scott Wilson, Entry No. 186, p. 15
- ^
Sledge, Matt (January 6, 2022).
"Allen Toussaint, New Orleans music icon, gets a boulevard renamed in his honor"
.
nola.com
. Retrieved
March 17,
2022
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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Discography
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as leader or co-leader
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as sideman
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International
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National
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Artists
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People
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Other
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