In 2017, Tony Allen told us why he ditched vocals and went in search of a new sound. The pioneering Afrobeat drummer died Thursday
Allen’s release schedule has been nearly as idiosyncratic as his drumming since 1979, when he put out his first solo record without Kuti’s involvement. He cuts an album now and then, maybe contributes to an Albarn project or a Zap Mama album or a dancefloor cut for French disco pioneer Cerrone. “When you are a musician, you know who Tony Allen is, of course,” Cerrone says. “When you like the groove, you know Tony.
Originally the Blakey tribute was planned as a live-only affair, but when he signed with Blue Note France, the label encouraged him to record the songs as a teaser EP before releasing a full-length. Simultaneously, Allen was playing with a jazz big band in Paris and coming to the realization that he was sick of doubling on vocals.
“Maybe once in a while [I’ll sing] if I have to, but not now,” he explains. “I really want to concentrate more on my drumming. My groove is already a complicated, difficult groove down there. And then singing on top of it? I’ve been doing it for years, but I’m tired of it now. I want to have the jazz music.” He decided to make his next LP a 10-piece affair with no vocals.Secret Agent
– for what the saxophonist calls a “sharing of taste.” “We would drink whiskey, because we both like whiskey,” he remembers, “and we started to listen to some music to know what jazz he loved and what I loved.” Jankielewicz cued up Gil Evans, the Canadian pianist-arranger-composer whose partnership with Miles Davis resulted in monuments like, while Allen brought Blakey and Charles Mingus to the table. “Classics,” Jankielewicz acknowledges, “but still efficient.
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