Music is always the best recipe to heal the soul

7th November 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Carl Allen – A Man about Town

Drummer Carl Allen, a native of Milwaukee, Illinois and resident of New York City, makes New Orleans his beat this week. Long connected to this city primarily dating back to 1987 from his work with trumpeter Terence Blanchard and saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., Allen performs at Snug Harbor on Saturday, November 12. He teams with Harrison once again in a quartet that includes bassist David Pulphus and pianist Jesse McBride. Earlier that day, he’ll head to the Heritage School of Music to offer his expertise to its young students and at the beginning of the following week he will conduct master classes at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), Loyola University and Tulane University.

Allen, who once acted as the artistic director at the prestigious Julliard School of Music, says his aim at such clinics is to “bring the bandstand to the classroom.”

Allen first met Harrison and Blanchard back when the two were playing at New York’s Sweet Basil with the great drummer Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. As a young jazz drummer, who was already a member of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s band, he naturally hung heavy at Blakey’s gigs.

This connection led to him joining the Harrison/Blanchard Quintet in 1987 and appearing on its excellent album, 1988’s Black Pearl. The relationship between Allen and Harrison as well as Blanchard continued through the decades and remains solid today. The drummer kicked on Harrison’s influential album Indian Blues as well as other of the saxophonist’s releases. It was through this link that Allen made an appearance on the HBO series, “Treme.” “They are both brilliant musicians and just beautiful people,” Allen proclaims.

Just recently, Allen, who is said to have played on some 200 recordings, hooked up with Blanchard to record the music for a new movie, The Comedian, for which the trumpeter composed the score. It happens that Pulphus, who plays with Allen at Snug Harbor on Saturday, was also in the band.

“There are all these little ‘families,’” says Allen of New Orleans tight-knit, music community. “So many of the things that I play now, came from Donald and Terence.”

Allen is presently focused on leading his own band, The Art of Elvin, named in honor of two of his idols, drummers Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. He’s also been working with bassist Christian McBride and saxophonist Benny Golson as well as traveling to lead master classes.

The two sets, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., at Snug Harbor will be filled with originals from Allen and Harrison, including material that they recorded together in the past.

Treme Creole Gumbo Festival

It’s curious how the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival, a free event presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation on Saturday, November 12, and Sunday, November 13, changed musical personalities in the last several years. It now could add “Brass Band” to its moniker as all but one ensemble, the Caesar Brothers Funk Box (Sunday, 2 p.m.) is totally brassy in their instrumentation. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Ensemble, which opens up on Sunday at 11 a.m., is perhaps the most unusual entry though it’s gained praise for its previous performances at the festival.

Stylistically, of course, the offerings range widely from the traditional keepers of the flame and neighborhood favorite, the Treme Brass Band (Saturday, 12:30 p.m.) followed by the Paulin Brothers Brass Band (1:45 p.m.), a group of mostly siblings who followed in the footsteps of their father, the wonderful and very influential, trumpeter Ernest “Doc” Paulin.

Wisely, the patriarch made sure that his sons took up different instruments so when each grew up and could play well enough on their axes, they entered his band.

“The way I look at it, you don’t want a house full of trumpet players,” Paulin, who died in 2007 at the age of 100, once explained. “It’s called simple economics. I had to bring them to it.”

Naturally, there are brass band playing on the line-up that bring it in the hot style that matches the steaming gumbo bowls offered at the fest. The New Breed (Saturday, 3 p.m.), led by drummer Jenard Andrews, the son of trumpeter James Andrews, has been making a splash both locally and nationally. The Grammy-winning – never get tired of declaring that – Rebirth Brass Band wraps up the event up with gusto starting at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday.

Backstreet Cultural Museum Benefit Goes Zydeco

For its second annual benefit show, the Backstreet Cultural Museum – “A Powerhouse of Knowledge” – goes zydeco. On Sunday, November 13, the event heads to the Rock ‘n’ Bowl, 3000 S. Carrollton Avenue, to present two groups, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas and Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, whose talented leaders both strap on the big, keyboard style of accordions ala greats like the late King of Zydeco Clifton Chenier and the recently passed Buckwheat Zydeco. The instrument often brings a more urban, R&B groove to the music that was born in southwest Louisiana.

Showtime is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and there will be items for sale such as photographs, CDs, T-shirts and Mardi Gras Indian beaded patches. Attendees can also sign up to become members of the museum, a true jewel located at the “Gateway to the Treme,” with membership perks to include receiving emails with the routes of the social aid and pleasure club parades and information on other cultural events.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. For more information, email the Backstreet at backstreetmuseum@gmail.com or call (504) 606-4809. You can also call Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes at (504) 220-1898 or Kevin at (504) 621-8882. Donations are tax deductible and the money raised will help keep the museum and the cultures to which it is dedicated – jazz funerals, Mardi Gras Indians and social aid and pleasure clubs — vital.

This article originally published in the November 7, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.