Henry James "Red" Allen Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been described by

Joachim-Ernst Berendt Joachim-Ernst Berendt (20 July 1922 in Berlin – 4 February 2000 in Hamburg) was a German music journalist, author and producer specialized on jazz. Life Berendt's father, Ernst Berendt, was a Protestant pastor belonging to the Confessing ...

and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Life and career

Allen was born in the

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

neighborhood of

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, the son of the bandleader Henry Allen Sr. He took early trumpet lessons from

Peter Bocage Peter Edwin Bocage (31 July 1887 – 3 December 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and violinist. Career At 21, he played violin as the leader of a ragtime band, the Superior Orchestra, which included Bunk Johnson. He played trumpet in the Tu ...

and

Manuel Manetta Manuel "Fess" Manetta (October 3, 1889 – October 10, 1969) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. Early life Manetta was born in New Orleans (district of Algiers) on October 3, 1889. He was of African and Italian descent."Subversive Sounds: ...

. Allen's career began in

Sidney Desvigne Sidney Desvigne (September 11, 1893 – December 2, 1959) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played in a large number of noted 1910s and 1920s-era New Orleans Jazz ensembles, including Leonard Bechet's Silver Bell Band, the Maple Leaf Orchestr ...

'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 The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, he went to Chicago in 1927 to join

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wro ...

's band. Around this time he made recordings on the side in the band of Clarence Williams. After returning briefly to New Orleans, where he worked with the bands of

Fate Marable Fate Marable (December 2, 1890 – January 16, 1947) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. Early life Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky to James and Elizabeth Lillian (Wharton) Marable, a piano teacher. Fate had five siblings, includi ...

and

Fats Pichon Walter Gabriel Pichon (April 3, 1906 – February 25, 1967) professionally known as Fats Pichon, was an American jazz pianist, singer, bandleader, and songwriter. Biography Pichon was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and began playin ...

, he was offered a recording contract with

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

and went to New York City, where he joined the

Luis Russell Luis Carl Russell (August 5, 1902 – December 11, 1963) was a pioneering Panamanian jazz pianist, orchestra leader, composer, and arranger. Career Luis Carl Russell was born on Careening Cay, near Bocas del Toro, Panama, in a family of African ...

band, which was later fronted by

in the late 1930s. In 1929, Allen joined Luis Russell's Orchestra, in which he was a featured soloist until 1932. He took part in recording sessions that year organized by

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. He also owned a self-named night club in New York City. Early ...

, some of which featured

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

and

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...

. He also made a series of recordings in late 1931 with

Don Redman Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader, and composer. Biography Redman was born in Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. His father was a music teacher ...

. In 1932 he recorded with the

Rhythmakers Rhythmakers, sometime known as The Rhythmakers or the Chicago Rhythm Kings in later re-issues of their music, was a jazz recording group which recorded music in four sessions in New York City in 1932. A racially integrated ensemble, the group was ...

in New York City. In 1933 he joined

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical ...

's Orchestra, in which he stayed until 1934. He played with

Lucky Millinder Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing music, swing and rhythm and blues, rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang ...

Mills Blue Rhythm Band The Mills Blue Rhythm Band was an American big band active during the 1930s. History The band was formed in New York City in 1930 by drummer Willie Lynch as the Blue Rhythm Band, and then briefly operated as the Coconut Grove Orchestra. Irvi ...

from 1934 to 1937, when he returned to Russell for three more years, by which time Russell's orchestra was fronted by

. Allen seldom received any solo space on recordings with Armstrong, but was prominently featured in the band's live performances, even getting billing as a featured attraction. As a bandleader, Allen recorded for Victor from 1929 through 1930. He made a series of recordings as co-leader with

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...

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 Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pian ...

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 Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

in 1940 and two sessions for

OKeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

in 1941. After World War II, he recorded for Brunswick in 1944, Victor in 1946, and

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

in 1947. Allen continued making many recordings under his own name and also with Fats Waller and

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

and accompanied such vocalists as

Victoria Spivey Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976), sometimes known as Queen Victoria, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and record company founder. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, s ...

and

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

. After a short stint with

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

, Allen began to lead his own band at the

Famous Door The Famous Door was a jazz club on New York's 52nd Street. It opened in 1935 and was one of the major clubs on the street, hosting leading jazz musicians until 1950, through changes of location and periods of closure. History The Famous Door ope ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. He then toured with the band around the United States into the late 1950s. In December 1957, Allen appeared with

Pee Wee Russell Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969) was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and sp ...

on the television program ''

Sound Of Jazz In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

''. In 1959, he made his first tour of Europe when he joined

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, Trombone, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of Music of New Orle ...

's band. He led the house band at New York's

Metropole Cafe The Metropole Cafe was a jazz club in New York's Manhattan in the 1950s and 1960s. Located at 725 7th Avenue near Times Square, it was primarily noted in the bebop and Jazz fusion, progressive jazz era as a venue for traditional musicians. It late ...

from 1954, until the club ceased its jazz policy in 1965.

Personal life and death

Allen was

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Allen returned to working under his own name and made numerous tours of the United States and Europe. He was diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

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. He is buried, in the newer section of

Saint Raymond's Cemetery Saint Raymond's Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery at 2600 Lafayette Avenue in the Throggs Neck and Schuylerville sections of the Bronx, New York City, United States. The cemetery is composed of two separate locations: the older section (main entr ...

in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, in grave 52 of section 15. He was survived by his widow, Pearly May, and a son, Henry Allen III.

Style and influence

Allen's trumpet style has been described by

and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of

, and to develop an emphasis on phrasing. Allen's recordings received much favorable attention. His versatility is shown by his winning of ''

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' awards in both the traditional jazz and the modern jazz categories. In 2022, the

New Orleans City Council The New Orleans City Council is the legislative branch of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1954 through a home rule charter, it replaced the city’s previous commission form of government created under the 1912 C ...

voted to rename "Slidell Street" in Algiers to "Red Allen Way", in his honor.

Discography

*1929-33 - ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #540, 1990) *1935-36 - ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #575, 1990) *1936-37 - ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #590, 1990) *1937-41 ''-'' ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #628, 1990) *1944-47 - ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #1067, 1990) *1957.07 - ''Red Allen, feat. Kid Ory & Jack Teagarden at Newport'' (

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * '' The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee h ...

, 1957) *1957.03 - '' Ride, Red, Ride in Hi-Fi'' (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

, 1957) reissued as ''World on a String'' (RCA, 1991) *1957.05 - ''Dixiecats'' (Roulette, 1957) *1957 - ''Stormy Weather'' (Jazz Groove, ?) *1957.12 - ''Warhorses'' (Jass Records, 1987CD version) with

*1958 - ''High Standards'', (Jass Records, 1987CD version) with

*1960.11 - ''Plays King Oliver'' (Verve, ?) *1960.11 - ''Stuyvesant Casino'' ''Nights'' (Stycon, ?) *1961.09 - ''Live at the London House'' (Fanfare, ?) *1962.03 - ''Rare Red Allen Trio performances'' (Flutegroove, ?) *1962.06 - ''Mr. Allen'' (Swingville, 1962) *1963 - ''Nice!'' (Phoenix, ?) *1965.06 - ''Feeling Good'' (Columbia, ?) *1967 - ''with the Alex Welsh Band'' (Jazzology, ? *1968 - '' The College Concert'' (

Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positive critiques ...

, 1968) with

with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra * 1932-34 - ''The Chronological'' (Classics #535, ?) * 1934-37 - ''The Chronological'' (Classics #527, ?) HRA only in the first four tracks with the Luis Russell Orchestra * 1926-29 - ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #588, 1991) HRA in the ten tracks of 1929 * 1930-34 - ''The'' ''Chronological'' (Classics #606, 1991) in all the tracks except the last six * with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band * 1934-36 - ''The Chronological'' (Classics #, ?) * 1936-37 - ''The Chronological'' (Classics #, ?) HRA in the 14 tracks of 1936 With

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

*''

Weary Blues "Weary Blues" is a 1915 tune by Artie Matthews. Despite the name, the form is a multi-strain ragtime rather than a conventional blues. (At the time it was published, many hot or raggy numbers were published with the word "Blues" in the title). I ...

'' (

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, 1959)

References

External links

Red Hot Jazz site website

Syncopated Times website

Henry Allen recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...