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Mike Allen

MIKE ALLEN-saxophonist. The 39 year-old Kingston Ontario native is profiled in Mark Miller's "Miller Companion To Jazz In Canada", has a Master's degree in Jazz from New York University and was featured in a Globe and Mail article that listed him as one of a half-dozen "Interesting Canadians To Watch". Over his 20-year career he has worked with many well-known jazz artists including trombonist Julian Priester, drummer Donald Bailey, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, saxophonist Gary Bartz, pianist Don Friedman, and multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson. Mike is a longtime member of the Montreal-based guitar legend Sonny Greenwich's group, with whom he recorded two CDs "Standard Idioms" (Kleo) and "Fragments Of A Memory" (Cornerstone). After relocating to Vancouver from Montreal in 1995, he began a similarly fruitful musical partnership with ex-Bill Evans bassist Chuck Israels, that led to performances throughout the Pacific Northwest, several Canada-wide tours and features on nationally aired CBC and NPR radio broadcasts.

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26
Album Review

Mike Allen: To a Star

Read "To a Star" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If you're a tenor saxophonist leading a piano-less trio, much of the group's melodic and harmonic components rest squarely on your shoulders. In spite of that--or perhaps because of it--Canadian tenor Mike Allen says he prefers working within that framework, as he has been doing for many years. If that is one's choice, he may as well recruit as comrades in arms the best bassist and drummer available. On To a Star, Allen has done precisely that, ...

3
Album Review

Mike Allen: Just Like Magic

Read "Just Like Magic" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Mike Allen is another in an apparently never-ending line of talented saxophonists who seem to emerge, from time to time, from the Canadian provinces to ensnare the hearts and earn the admiration not only of their fellow countrymen but jazz enthusiasts in other climes as well. On Just Like Magic, Allen leads a deft and experienced trio whose other members are bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash. In a program that encompasses five of his original ...

148
Album Review

Mike Allen: Change Is

Read "Change Is" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


Despite a handful of excellent recordings of trios led by giants like Sonny Rollins, Elvin Jones, and Joe Lovano, the saxophone, bass, and drums configuration has not been a particularly successful ensemble within the jazz mainstream. Simply stated, it’s a tough act to pull off for an extended period of time, especially for less experienced musicians. The absence of harmonic guideposts normally provided by a piano or guitar (not to mention their contribution as an additional soloist) magnifies the presence ...

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