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 Edward Lewis may refer to: Politicians *Edward Lewis (Devizes MP) (1650–1674), British MP for Devizes, 1669–1674 *Edward Lewis (Radnor MP), British MP for Radnor, 1761–1768, 1769–1774 and 1775–1790 *Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837–1892 ...

, 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 1935) is the director 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 to have instructed ...

on piano, and Ben Webster 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 Joe Keyes may refer to: * Joe Keyes (musician) * Joe Keyes (rugby league) Joseph Keyes (born 17 September 1995) is an Ireland international rugby league footballer who plays as a and for the Halifax Panthers in the Betfred Championship. He h ...

, Ben Webster, Jim "Big Daddy" Walker,

, Slim Moore, Raymond Howell on drums, Eddie "Orange" White, Al Denny, O.C. Wynne,

Booker Pittman Booker Pittman or Pitman (3 March 1909, Fairmount Heights, Maryland, USA – 19 October 1969, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) was a jazz clarinetist who played with Louis Armstrong and Count Basie in the US and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. He also play ...

, 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) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

. Another battle of the bands took place between Allen's band and McKinney's Cotton Pickers, then with Don Redman as musical director.

Gitler, Ira Ira Gitler (December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019) was an American jazz historian and journalist. The co-author of ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' with Leonard Feather—the most recent edition appeared in 1999—he wrote hundreds of ...

(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