Whenever I got to thinking “what's the point of practicing my saxophone,” or “what’s the point of thinking about music,” a feeling of guilt or “how dare you think of that!” feeling came over me. I was down, I'm pretty certain that I wasn't alone in thinking like that. Once the news broke about the Global pandemic and the world shut down as we have come to know it, I spent the first couple of months after justifying my thinking by attaching “what's the point of?” to my every thought and action. Can’t imagine that the lay person saw Covid-19 coming but it came and changed all of our lives in many different variations and degrees, so in all honesty the thought of writing just about the music seemed small. I felt that it was important that I write directly To Whom It May Concern about our most recent (outside of music) shared experience and new reality that concerns us all. Writing the liner notes for Queen City has proven to be just as challenging as finding and playing the right material for this recording. JD also appeared in Fontaine’s documentary on Betty Carter some 20 years ago, New All The Time. At the request of saxophone colossus, Sonny Rollins and filmmaker Dick Fontaine, JD was invited to open up ceremonies for the screening of the lauded, “Sonny Rollins – Beyond The Notes” at The 2013 Woodstock Film Festival to great acclaim. JD has appeared on WNYC, NPR, WBGO, WKCR and festivals and venues worldwide including headlining at New York’s Village Vanguard, Newport, North Sea, Saratoga and Summerstage/Charlie Parker Jazz Festivals, among others. Since making a strong impression in his early years in New York and serving an invaluable tenure with Carter, JD has come a long way - now fully possessed of his own sound.
“Butch” Morris to contemporaries Meshell Ndegeocello. The Detroit natives apprenticeship has largely been in New York, where he has performed, recorded, and toured with legends running the gamut from Betty Carter and Lawrence D. Winner of the 2020 Composer of the Year in Downbeat, JazzTimes & NPR polls in categories including NPR’s Best Jazz of the Year, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, Composer of the Year and Rising Star of the Year and JJA Winner for Short Form Jazz News Documentary, Mario Lathan, for VICTORY! – The Making of JD Allen’s Victory! in 2012. JD ALLEN has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air, in The Atlantic, in The New York Times and hailed by one of JDs first champions, jazz critic Ben Ratliff as, “a tenor saxophonist with an enigmatic, elegant and hard-driving style,” JD Allen is one of the most thoughtful jazz saxophonists on the scene today.
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