Ride, Red, Ride: The Life of Henry 'Red' Allen

233 Pages·2000·12.93 MB·English

by  John Chilton

Ride, Red, Ride
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John Chilton
RIDE, BED, RIDE
The Life cf Henry *Eed' Allen
John Chilton
With a Selected Discography
compiled by Brian Peerless
CONTINUUM
London and New York
Continuum
Wellington House, 125 Strand, London WC2R OBB
370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6550
First published in Great Britain by Cassell by arrangement with Bayou Press Ltd.
Reprinted in paperback in 2000.
© John Chilton 1999
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private
study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act
1988, this publication may not be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by
any means or process, without the prior permission in writing of the copyright holders or
their agents. Except for reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, photocopying of all or part of this publication without
the prior written permission of the Publishers, whether in single or multiple copies
whether for gain or not is illegal and expressly forbidden. Please direct all enquiries
concerning copyright to the Publishers at the address above.
John Chilton and Brian Peerless are hereby identified as authors of this work as provided
under section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-304-70407-5 (hardback)
0 8264-4744-9 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chilton, John, 1932
Ride, Red, Ride: the life of Henry 'Red' Allen/John Chilton: with a selected
discography compiled by Brian Peerless.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-3-4-70407-4 (hardcover) — 0-8264-4744-9 (paperback)
1. Allen, Henry, 1908-1967. 2. Jazz musicians—United States—Bibliography.
I. Title.
ML419.A56C54 1998
788.9'2165'092—dc21
[B]
98-43703
CIP
MN
Designed and typeset by Ben Cracknell Studios
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vi
1 New Orleans Joys 1
2 A Trip to the North 13
3 Riverboat Days 28
4 A Musical Furnace 41
5 Star Soloist 58
6 The Blueprints of Swing 72
7 The Great Understudy 90
8 Bold Bandleader 105
9 Super Showman 118
10 Metropole Magic 135
11 European Debut 151
12 Four's Company 167
13 Triumphant Tours 178
14 A Valiant Farewell 19 0
Notes 203
Selected Discography 208
Index 212
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Grateful thanks are extended to:
Henry Allen III, Richard B. Allen, Jeff Atterton, Cuff Billet, Ray
Bolden, Jack Bradley, Michael Brooks, Jack Cicolla, Derek Coller, Bill
Crow, Stanley Dance, Kenny Davern, Frank Driggs, Alan Elsdon,
Allan Gatward, David Griffiths, Marty Grosz, Mike Hazeldine, Karl
Gert zur Heide, Franz Hoffmann, William Ransom Hogan Jazz
Archive (Tulane University, New Orleans), Institute of Jazz Studies
(Rutgers University, New Jersey), Al Kennedy,Terry Lightfoot,
Humphrey Lyttelton, Barry Martyn, Dan Morgenstern, National Jazz
Foundation Archive (Loughton Library, Essex), Jane Palmer (Algiers
Point Library, Louisiana), Brian Peerless, Art Pilkington, Michael
Pointon, Ralph Porter, Dr Bruce Raeburn, Claes Ringqvist, Alyn
Shipton, Johnny Simmen, Keith Smith, Richard Sudhalter, Eddie
Taylor, Les Tompkins, Mike Tovey, Francoise Venet, Barbara Vaughn,
Joyce Wallis, John Whitehorn, Al Williams, Roy Williams, Val Wilmer
and Laurie Wright.
The photographs in the plate section are reproduced by kind
permission of Henry Allen III (1-6, 9, 11-12 and 14-15), Jack
Bradley (17),Teresa Chilton (7-8, 10, 16), Gladys Dobell (18) and
Barry Martyn (13).
vi
For George Melly and the hundreds of gigs we've shared
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NEW ORLEANS JCTS
The difference between Red Allen's onstage and offstage personality
was remarkable. Anyone witnessing the tall, burly figure hollering at an
audience and blowing daredevil phrases on his trumpet could be forgiven
for thinking that Red Allen was an extrovert for all of his waking hours.
But if one met Red away from an audience he was a model of courtesy;
a quiet, considerate man who was both affable and reflective. The link
between the two contrasting aspects of Red's character was the enormous
presence that he always exuded. He was clearly a proud man, but his
pride was never blemished with haughtiness. In social exchanges Red's
soft, husky voice was full of old Southern charm, his pronunciations
faithful to his Louisiana childhood. The word 'nice' entered many of his
sentences, and he usually referred to himself as 'yours truly'. His terms
of endearment for musicians he admired were 'my man', 'my ace boy'
and 'champ'; he was, as writer Dan Morgenstern observed, 'a kind and
decent man'.l
Red's lifelong wife, Pearly May, said to him in their early years, 'Allen,
you're too quiet. You don't belong in this business.'2 This was not meant
as an admonition, but as a loving observation. Nevertheless Red took it
as guiding advice and gradually developed an onstage charisma that was
unforgettable.
Red Allen in action was an object lesson in personality projection.
He could get the most blase audience enthusiastically applauding a
soloist by jovially commanding them to 'Make him happy', 'Make...
Him...Happy!' Red often told his listeners how lucky they were to be
hearing a performance by 'six princes of jazz', no matter how skimpy the
talent was in the band that day. He made sure that nobody dozed off by
yelling 'Wamp! Wamp!' at the start of each number, and at any point in
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