Allen, Byron - The Byron Allen Trio
SKU
34-ESP 1005
For my money, this 1964 ESP album is a minor 60s free-jazz classic. Byron Allen was introduced to ESP by Ornette Coleman, and this, his only recording until a 2nd album appeared 15 years later, is very much in the Ornette trio vein, although not as accomplished. Still, a very worthy ESP/free jazz date. Maceo Gilchrist is on bass and Ted Robinson is on percussion.
"Byron Allen Trio was among the first batch of ESP-Disk's jazz LPs. Recorded on the afternoon of September 25, 1964 at Mirasound Studio in midtown Manhattan, it was Allen's debut. He had been recommended to ESP-Disk' by Ornette Coleman, and one of the tracks, "Decision for the Cole-Man," reflects this connection. Allen and his trio also play in a style somewhat similar to that of Coleman's trio of that era with bassist David Izenson and drummer Charles Moffett, though that's not to say that Allen, bassist Maceo Gilchrist, and drummer Ted Robinson don't display a sound of their own on the four tracks here. In the years since, though Allen made only one other album (and that 15 years later), this LP acquired legendary stature among jazz fanatics."