Red Allen Chapters 9 - The Jazz Archive

- 101a - Addenda
11/27 Mo. - 12/10/61 Su. Columbus, Benny Klein´s – Red Allen Quartet w. Sammy Price &/or Lannie Scott, Franklin
Skeete, Jerry Potter
results in an academic discus- At first we thought Red had cotton
sion. What's to be said that stuffed 'way down inside. But no. When
hasn't been said time and time we asked him he said, "I just don't blow
before?
so hard." But don't kid yourself into
In addition to blowing the thinking he can't blast off.
original New Orleans sound, We heard him tee off with "Hindustan,"
Red is a first-rate show-man. a fluid, muted version. You had to
He knows how to help an imagine the melody - "where I met you
audience experience the gamut annd the world began" —while Red
of emotion which jazz and indulged in soft fanciful flights.
the blues offer. To love jazz, Pianist Sam Price was coming through
you have but to listen. To with an occasional fast run. Drummer Jerry
understand, you need to think. Potter and Franklin Skeete on the string
JAZZ WAS born as a result bass fit into the rhythm picture like "a
of suffering. The real thing long pair of milady's formal gloves -
has always been played from reserved, quiet, yet potentially dynamic.
the heart and the soul. Red rested his horn on the piano so he
From the pick-up notes of could snap his fingers, and clap his hands.
Columbus Dispatch Tu., 11/28/61p12B
"Snowy Mornin' Blues," you can detect "Hey!" "Hey-ay-yay!" And all down the
“Red” Allen Combo Is Hit at
a mood of that which is the blues - the tables, up on the balcony, out among the
Benny Klein's by William Fulwider
sorrow of a people being expressed in the waiting line of customers, hands began
Henry "Red" Allen is one of the old
only universal language.
clapping on the up-beat.
gang; those of the 1920s and 30s, who
With a little imagination, you can see a When Red picked up the horn again he
brought Jazz to peak popularity during
lonesome fellow huddling in the door-way leaned into it. Every bar was a bit wilder
Prohibition and who are continuing their
of a dirty market . . . perhaps in a bleak than the preceeding, ending in a note
artistry.
alley . . . or crouched in the corner of a higher than the ceiling.
Allen is a trumpeter par exellence and is
cold freight car goin' no-where but EVEN IN REPOSE between numbers,
mostly the whole show when his band sets
nowhere.
Allen was a St. Vitus with a beat: He
up on Benny Kline's bandstand.
HE BEGINS to sing – almost a moan twitched with rhythm before it started;
No doubt his listeners will detect a
- and a new blues is born. The real greats he fingered the valves as his sidemen
similarity between Allen and Louis
understand this feeling. They understand musically held the audience in tense
Armstrong in instrumental technique
the message of the blues.
anticipation of Red's next outburst.
and in gravel voice, the brief times Allen
When NBC was selecting the musi- There were "St. Louis Blues," "Birth of
turns to vocalizing.
cians for its "Chicago and All That the Blues." "Bye, Bye Blackbird" with
THIS IS not unusual since Allen used to
Jazz" program of last Sunday, Red the whole crowd singing.
play with Louis. But "Red" says he plays
Allen was one of the men chosen. "Let it roll!" Red grinned.
now the way he's always played. No expla-
THE NETWORK wanted to tell the
In "Come Home Bill Bailey" Sam Price
nation needed, how-ever - he's good.
story of Chicago and its influence on
gathered up two big mits full of keys and
Allen's group may be somewhat singular -
jazz during the 1920's. They told the
spread them out like they came from a
the pianist, Sammy Price, does do some
story with the help of Red and others
full band; Potter made like a supah Krupa.
solo work - since he has no trombone or
like him.
Even in off-the-cuff requests like "Up the
clarinet as most jazz bands do, but he
A hulk of a man, Red off-stage is a
Lazy River" and "Mack, the Knife,"
pretty well makes up for that with his
quiet, unassuming gentleman. Onstage,
Allen and his combo were casually yet
own enthusiasm.
he's an entertainer who wins an audi-
completely big time.
The group plays a wide range of numence
quickly and expertly with his
IN "SUGAR BLUES" we first notibers,
from "Hindustan" and "Birth of the
ced Red's generous habit of leading up
gruffnesss, his contortions and his
Blues," which are mostly underplay-ed
to an introductory bar, then cutting out
feeling for the music he plays.
and muted. to wide-open renditions_ of
to give his sidemen the breaks.
I'm betting he'll win you over too.
"Come Home Bill Bailey," "St. James ======================= He got in some subtle licks of high
Infirmary" and "Chicago."
Columbus-Star, 12/2/61, p14a&15a temperature in "People Will Say We're
ALLEN loves to flutter-tongue, but Red Allen Packs Horn personality in Love," but the one we liked best was
says he does only because that's the way By John Bohannan
Red's version of "Basin Street Blues."
he feels like playing. His version of "St. If Henry "Red" Allen never put a trum- So you're out for a quiet evening. So
Louis Blues" sounded almost original to pet to his lips he would be a great enter- you want to drink espresso and read
this reviewer because of a similarity tainer. The top jazz man now playing at poetry.
first to a mambo beat and then boogie Benny Klein's is a crowd pleaser with Get with it, man! Check this Red Allen.
woogie, but "Red" explained that's the an intious way of getting everybody into You can't relax when he's around. Your
way the music was written.
the act. He claps hands on the up-at. The feet move. You quit beating your gums
And "is boogie woogie `really new," he audi-ence joins in. Then he yells "Double and beat your hands.
asked? - Drummer Jerry Potter and bassist up." The message gets through. It's clap, He'll get through to you.
Franklin Skette don't get much chance to clap, clap-clap. Clap, clap, clap-clap. ========================
go it on their own, but they afford the But when he picks up the trumpet all unknown date & source, :
balance needed for a good band. hell breaks loose in fascinating free-style (continued from-p6:
Citizen-Journal, Columbus, Ohio; Wed., sasheys, building up to solid holds, only You have only until Sat.Dec.8 to catch
11/29/61p17: Music And Theater to break dramatically into a guttural tone the trumpet sound of Henry “Red”Allen at
'Nice, Man, Nice' Password This week in the last few bars, lingering on the Benny Klein´s Steak House.
At Benny Klein's , by Ron Pataky seventh note, then climbing to a high Considered one of the jazz immortals,
Henry "Red" Allen climbs onto the
sixth. He has an infinite variety of clima- Allen shows tremendous depth, warmth
bandstand at Benny Klein's, caresses his
ctic configurations, achieving the impos- and beauty in his work.
horn with his massive hands and, in a
sible with the ease of a golfer downing a Since his early recordings in 1929 with
scotch and soda at the nineteenth hole. King Oliver and later Louis Armstrong,
croaking, Armstrong - like voice, says ". HE TOYS with the instrument like a to his present-day recordings on Verve-
. . nice, man, nice."
cat playing with a mouse. No other horn label, Allen´s jazz concepts and tastes
Then he begins to play.
man we ever have heard has so much have varied. But throughout, his dyna-
A CRITIQUE of the handiwork of jazz volume control. He can play with a mute, mic personality has prevailed to the
greats - men such as Louis Armstrong, take it off and the open horn is no louder. delight of his audiences everywhere.
Jack Teagarden and the like – inevitably