Emerging late in the post-Louis Armstrong period as one of New Orleans’s final major trumpeters, Henry “Red” Allen remained overshadowed by Satch and later players even though his own approach proved strikingly fresh. His playing stayed modern in any context, and the rhythmic liberty he cultivated kept every solo unpredictable and charged. Born to brass-band leader Henry Allen, Sr., the younger Allen took up the trumpet in childhood and performed in his father’s parade ensembles as well as other local outfits. After a season on riverboats alongside Fate Marable and Fats Pichon, he moved to Chicago to work with King Oliver. He cut New York sides with Oliver and Clarence Williams before entering Luis Russell’s strong orchestra and launching his own recording career as a soloist. Victor signed him expressly as a counterpart to Okeh’s Louis Armstrong, and Allen’s statements proved inventive and striking at once, above all on “It Should Be You.” Through the 1930s his trumpet and gruff singing appeared on countless dates; even when the songs lacked distinction, his presence usually raised the level. Following extended engagements with Luis Russell (1929-1932), Fletcher Henderson (1933-1934), and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band (1934-1937), he spent three years in Louis Armstrong’s backup unit, a reliable yet largely unheralded post. Beginning in 1940 he directed a sequence of strong ensembles that retained a Dixieland core while remaining receptive to rhythm-and-blues elements, with trombonist J.C. Higginbotham, a lifelong associate, and altoist Dan Stovall featured on many of the dates. Between 1954 and 1965 his often boisterous band held a steady engagement at New York’s Metropole, where Coleman Hawkins sometimes sat in; Allen also traveled to Europe on several occasions, among them a 1959 tour with Kid Ory’s group, and he stood out memorably in the December 1957 CBS broadcast The Sound of Jazz. He stayed busy until the end of his life, earning praise from Don Ellis in the 1960s as “the most creative and avant-garde trumpeter in New York.” The European Classics label preserves his 1930s work, while numerous later performances have also appeared on compact disc.
