Jasper "Jap" Allen was an American jazz musician and bandleader. He played tuba, sousaphone and bass violin.

Biography

In 1925, Jap Allen was a member of the Paul Banks Orchestra.Russell, Ross (1971)
''Jazz Style in Kansas City and the Southwest''
p. 116. University of California Press, ''Google Books''. Retrieved 10 December 2022. Other band members included Ed Lewis, and Clifton Allen. In 1926, Jap Allen, on tuba, was still a member of Paul Banks's band, now named Paul Banks's Syncopating Orchestra, with Clifton Banks on alto sax, Miles Pruitt or Ira Kinley on banjo, Robert Moody or Ben Simpson on trombone, James Everett on drums, and Ed Lewis on trumpet.

As bandleader

In the late 1920s, Allen was leading his own band in Kansas City, which included Joe Keys (Keyes) on trumpet,

Clyde Hart Clyde Hart (born February 3rd, 1934) is an American of track and field at Baylor University. Hart retired as head coach for the Baylor track program on June 14, 2005, after 42 years with the program. Hart is primarily known as the only coach ...

on piano, and

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor Saxophone, saxophonist. He performed in the United States and Europe and made many recordings with Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, a ...

on tenor sax. Shortly thereafter, Jap Allen's Cotton Pickers, still with Webster, Hart, and Keys, now had Jim "Daddy" Walker on guitar, and Slim Moore on trombone. Driggs, Frank; Chuck Haddix (2005)
''Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop-A History''
pp. 93, 249, 286. Oxford University Press, ''Google Books''. Retrieved 10 December 2022. In 1930, Jap Allen's Cotton Club Orchestra featured Joe Keyes,

, Jim "Big Daddy" Walker,

, Slim Moore, Raymond Howell on drums, Eddie "Orange" White, Al Denny, O.C. Wynne, Booker Pittman, Durwood "Dee" Stewart. A later line-up, Jasper Allen's Southern Troubadours, were pitted against Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy competing at a " battle of the bands" during National Music Week, organised by the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) trade union, labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in N ...

. Another battle of the bands took place between Allen's band and

McKinney's Cotton Pickers McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by Bill McKinney (drummer), Bill McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drum ...

, then 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 ...

as musical director. Gitler, Ira (1985)
''Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s''
p. 107. Oxford University Press, ''Google Books''. Retrieved 10 December 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Jap Year of birth unknown American jazz tubists American jazz musicians American jazz bandleaders