"The Players" Webcast Karl Sterling

We had a blast talking about all things drums and drumming! ENJOY and be sure to check out Carl's website at: http://www.carlallen.com

With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades.

Born on April 25, 1961, Allen grew up on gospel, R&B, and funk, but later turned to jazz after hearing an LP by the legendary saxophonist Benny Carter. He studied with drum instructor Roy Sneider and band director Robert Siemele. His first hometown gigs were with sax greats Sonny Stitt and James Moody. Allen studied at The University of Wisconsin at Green Bay from 1979 to 1981, and transferred to William Patterson College in New Jersey, where he graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies and Performance.

Allen joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation, served as his Musical Director for eight years, and recorded several recordings with the trumpeter including Double Take and Life Flight. Allen also played with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Lena Horne, Ruth Brown, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Mike Stern, Nellie McKay, Terence Blanchard, Phil Woods, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Henderson, Billy Childs and many others. Allen’s phenomenal sideman discography also includes Jackie McLean (Dynasty), Donald Harrison (Indian Blues, Noveau Swing), Donald Byrd (A City Called Heaven), and Art Farmer (The Company I Keep).

“Carl Allen is an international powerhouse. His sound and feeings have fuled the bands of Freddie Hubbard, Christian McBride and countless others as well leading his own projects. “
– Joe Lovano

Piccadilly Square (Timeless) was Allen’s first CD as leader, released in 1989, followed by The Dark Side of Dewey (Evidence), The Pursuer (Atlantic), Testimonial (Atlantic), and Get Ready, his 2007 Mack Avenue gospel/Motown accented debut release with co-leader, bassist Rodney Whitaker followed up by Work to Do (Mack Avenue Records) featuring Kirk Whalum.

Education has always been part of my mission Allen says. Art Blakey taught me the importance of nurturing the next generation of musicians. “Every generation needs someone to help them get to the next level and this what I am hoping to do”. In May of 2012 Allen received an honorary doctorate from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah in Humane Letters.

Allen is also an accomplished businessman. He co-founded Big Apple Productions in 1988 with saxophonist Vincent Herring, produced several recordings for several Japanese labels with future stars Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton. Several years ago he created Nella Productions which produces projects and developed an education component to the company called The New York Jazz Symposium where he runs workshops around the world on jazz. Allen has also produced recordings for pianist Eric Reed, Dewey Redman. Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Kris Bowers and guitarist Lage Lund, the winner of the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Monk Competition and many others totaling nearly 70 credits as a producer.

Carl Allen’s multifaceted career provides the perfect template for what a modern musician should be. As Sid Gribetz of Jazz Times wrote, “more than just another fine drummer, Carl Allen has it all together as a bandleader, businessman, and producer, becoming a force in today’s jazz world.”

Allen maintains an exhaustive schedule of recording, touring and teaching. He remains active as a sideman with Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Benny Golson and others. As a leader most recently leading The Carl Allen Quartet as well as The Art of Elvin, a tribute band dedicated to his two drum influences, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones was started after the pas

It was great to talk with drummer / percussionist, Michael Beck. In this conversation, Michael talks about his time with the iconic progressive rock band, Happy The Man. Great information, education, and stories! ENJOY!

Michael Beck: My initial interest in drums began when I was in the sixth grade in Bloomington, Indiana. I started with metal rods as drum sticks on cardboard boxes and played to the music on the radio. Then in Junior High, I bought my first drum set, a 1950 model, and joined my first group playing 60’s tunes, like “Louie Louie”. Our family then moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I met Rick Kennell (current bass player for Happy The Man). We formed a group together playing covers and original music. After High School I studied music at Indiana University for a short time, and began branching out playing many other styles of music, as much as possible, wherever I could, in clubs and concerts, with whoever I could find to work with. Rick Kennell, now back from the Army, called me to go with him to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to join a newly forming band, called Happy The Man, doing all original music.

During this time frame, I increasingly became very dissatisfied with the confines of the ordinary drum set-up and began on a path of experimenting with adding on cowbells, woodblocks, and as many percussion instruments that I could find to add to my drum kit. I read everything I could find on old vaudeville, big band, and wacky drummers of the past. I built scaffolding to suspend wind chimes and various odd instruments I had found or made. I began discovering sounds in everything from toys to junk, to just about whatever would make an interesting sound. I was very influenced by Harry Partch and his idea of what a musician should be. He began a musical company that built his instruments from found objects, and in combination with dance, pantomime, and musicianship, was one of the first people I knew of that was presenting a multi-media performance show. Because of my rather large drum/percussion set up, I began to experiment with dance and movement myself…. mostly out of necessity, with having to move from one instrument to another when scoring my drums parts in Happy The Man. With this new art form in hand, I slowly (with the incredible music the HTM guys were writing) developed my own unique style. I always felt HTM music lent itself to a percussionist who should not confine scoring his parts to just a drum kit. The music was incredibly symphonic; it needed the proper ambient sounds to accompany the drum kit to bring out all the emotion the songs entailed. The HTM time period in my life was one of the most unique and amazing experiences I’ve ever had. We worked as a unit, everyone had huge respect for one another, and together we created incredible music.

After leaving HTM, I played with various groups of all sizes, shapes, and styles. I did many recording projects, some small touring, and eventually moved back to Fort Wayne, Indiana to work at a drum/percussion music store, “The Percussion Center”. I became the in-house drummer for Marty Bleifield’s state-of-the-art new recording studio doing all the jingle and demo work. I continued to put together original music groups, and played in anything of quality that came my way. I began writing music more seriously at this time, and eventually discovered that making a living as a sideman had its shortcomings - joining a band to eventually watch it break up would put you back on the street again, looking for work. The roller coaster instability became a factor, especially with a family to support. My wife, Annie, of 24 years, has always supported my artistry in every way, which has allowed me to continue my passion for music.