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 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 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 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'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 and Fats Pichon, he was offered a recording contract with Victor Records and went to New York City, where he joined the Luis Russell 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, 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. 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 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 ...

'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

. 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 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 in

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 on the television program '' Sound Of Jazz''. 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 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 Joachim-Ernst Berendt 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, 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!, 1968) with Pee Wee Russell 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 *'' Weary Blues'' (

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 ...