⬇️ LEE ALLEN ⬇️
(Lee Francis Allen)
(6CD)
Allen was a key figure in New Orleans rock and roll of the 1950s and
recorded with many leading performers of the early rock and roll era.
He was semiretired from music by the late 1960s, but in the late 1970s
returned to performing intermittently until the end of his life.
Allen was born in Pittsburg, Kansas, and raised largely in Denver,
Colorado. He played saxophone from his childhood. A combined athletics
and music scholarship from Xavier University led him to relocate to New
Orleans in 1943.
He fell into the city's thriving music scene, performing or recording
with dozens of musicians in the early days of rock and roll and rhythm
and blues. In 1947, he joined the Paul Gayten Band and later, the Dave
Bartholomew Band. Notable are his recordings with the singers Fats
Domino and Lloyd Price. Allen also was the sax soloist on most of Little
Richard's epochal hits from 1955 and 1956. Earl King, whom Allen backed,
recalled that Allen was "part of the wallpaper" at Cosimo Matassa's
studio, and that Allen was on all the records by Huey "Piano" Smith.
Allen and drummer Earl Palmer also backed Professor Longhair on many
recordings.
His own instrumental, "Walkin' with Mr. Lee", released by Ember Records,
was a minor hit in 1958, partly because it was frequently played on the
television program American Bandstand. This and Allen's subsequent
singles are collected on the album also called Walkin' with Mr. Lee[3]
He appeared in the film Sweet Beat (1959).
By the mid-1960s, Allen found the city of New Orleans no longer the
recording mecca it was for many years. So he soon followed Earl Palmer's
lead and moved to southern California in 1965, performing only
occasionally on tours with Fats Domino. He found work at an aircraft
manufacturing plant by day and also fell easily into the thriving R
& B scene by night. He formed an organ trio and performed with
his close friends T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner.
The 1972 album Dr. John's Gumbo by Dr. John features Allen's sax work.
He also appeared on albums by Buddy Miles in this period.
After the rockabilly revival got going in the late 1970s, younger
musicians sought Allen's distinctive saxophone. He recorded with the
Stray Cats on their second album, Gonna Ball (1981).
Allen was a mentor to and eventually a member of The Blasters. He
recorded with the roots-rockers on all of their albums except for their
debut, American Music. The second and all subsequent releases from the
band's original incarnation, on Slash/Warner Bros, featured him on tenor
sax as well as Steve Berlin on baritone sax. Allen also toured with The
Blasters during the early to mid-1980s. He is visible in the sequence
featuring the band in Streets of Fire (1984). He remained a regular
guest in later lineups.
In October 1981, Allen played three shows with the Rolling Stones: on
October 1 at the Metro Centre, in Rockford, Illinois, and on October 3/4
at Folsom Field, in Boulder, Colorado. Allen found it difficult to
adjust to the stadium size shows of the Stones and was replaced with
Ernie Watts and Bobby Keys for the remainder of the tour.
Allen continued to tour with Fats Domino into the 1990s. In late 1992,
he took part in studio dates for what would be his final album: The
Ultimate Session, released by High Street/Windham Hill in 1994. The
group of New Orleans all-stars featured Palmer, Alvin Tyler, Dr. John,
and Allen Toussaint.
Lee Allen died of lung cancer in 1994 at age 67. He was survived by his
wife, Birdie, as well as five children from a previous marriage: Lee
Jr., Patrick, Emmanuel, Aaron, and Karen.
After Allen's death, Blasters member Dave Alvin dedicated the song
"Mister Lee" (on the 1996 album Interstate City) to his longtime friend
and bandmate. Alvin noted that melody was Allen's passion, and that it
was what separated him from less sophisticated honkers. Earl King added
that whereas other saxophonists would get too jazzy, Allen had
commercial appeal ...
(Wikipedia)