Kris Allen

Kris Allen
West Hartford, CT
Grant amount: $10,028

About the Artist

In it's precise current incarnation, this group has not toured outside of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, but has played regularly over the past two years at clubs in Hartford, Springfield, Lenox, and Pittsfield. If I could bashfully speak of “silver linings” that have come about for me during the Covid-19 era, it would be the fact that the three of us, longtime musical collaborators, have all found ourselves living in close proximity (for the first time in over 5 years) in the Hartford CT area. We have been able to play constantly over the past couple of years, workshop each other’s material and develop a true working band sound.

KRIS ALLEN is a Saxophonist, Composer and Recording Artist, who was given his start in music by his mentor, the great Jackie McLean. His latest release, Beloved, is his second album for the Truth Revolution Recording Collective. In the company of his working band Allen calls upon the musical languages of not only McLean, but also notably Young, Parker, Mingus, Ellington, Powell, Rollins, Coltrane, Coleman and Kirkland to spin a unique sound narrative.

“Allen, in this triumphant follow-up release to his acclaimed debut disc, Circle House, for all of his fluency in the language of jazz and deep knowledge of the music’s modern masters, is very much his own man with his own creative voice.”- WNPR.org

Allen’s, has been praised by Jazziz Magazine as “today’s saxophone dream band,” and Downbeat Magazine described Beloved as “one of the better new releases to come out this year…..locating the profound within the familiar”

Kris has enjoyed a career as a sought-after sideman, working in the groups of Illinois Jacquet, Gerald Wilson, Andy Gonzales, Jimmy Greene, Helen Sung, Winard Harper, Andy Laverne, the Mingus Dynasty, Avery Sharpe, Andy Jaffe, Earl Macdonald, Noah Baerman, Jen Allen, Ike Sturm, Gary Smulyan, Jazzmeia Horn, Rogerio Boccato, Kendrick Oliver’s New Life Orchestra, the Curtis Brothers and Mario Pavone among others. As a composer, Kris has been honored with numerous awards, commissions and residencies including a State of Connecticut Artist Fellowship and a Macdowell Artist Colony Residency. He has collaborated with dancers, poets, and visual artists, as well as musicians from across diverse genres.

Kris is a Vandoren Artist and plays Vandoren mouthpieces, reeds and ligatures exclusively.

MATT DWONSZYK- bass

Born in Hartford, CT, Dwonszyk attended the Artists Collective, the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at The University of Hartford and obtained a Master’s of Music at SUNY Purchase College in New York. He has performed with numerous contemporaries as well as legendary jazz artists including Harold Mabern, Larry Willis, David Hazeltine, Anthony Wonsey, Rick Germanson, Hal Galper, Dave Kikoski, Donald Vega, Pete Malinverni, Steve Wilson, Abraham Burton, and Duane Eubanks

JONATHAN BARBER-drumset

New York City-based Jonathan Barber was voted the #1 Up-and-Coming Drummer of 2018 in Modern Drummer. He has recorded and toured worldwide with such artists as Pat Metheny, Nicholas Payton, Buster Williams, Jeremy Pelt, Wallace Roney, Terrace Martin, Jennifer Holiday, Harold Mabern, Steve Davis, Stefon Harris, and many more.