Carl Allen (drummer)


Carl Allen is an American jazz drummer.
Allen attended William Paterson University.
He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, including Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, George Coleman, Phil Woods, the Benny Green Trio and Rickie Lee Jones.
It was with Green that Allen met bassist Christian McBride. The two have teamed up frequently, working for many combos of big name leaders. McBride recruited Allen for his band, Christian McBride & Inside Straight. Allen is that quintet's drummer for both its first recording, Kinda Brown, and its road tours.
In 1988 Allen and Vincent Herring founded Big Apple Productions, which produced several albums featuring young jazz performers.
He joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in 2001, and became the Artistic Director of Jazz Studies in 2008. He was replaced as director by Wynton Marsalis in 2013, and left Juilliard at the end of the academic year.
In 2011, Allen appeared as himself in two episodes of the HBO series Tremé, in a studio recording scene in New York City.
In 2014, he formed his own group, The Art of Elvin to pay tribute to Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. The band debuted at the Percussive Arts Society conference in Indianapolis, Indiana with Allen on drums, Freddie Hendrix, Tivon Pennicott, Xavier Davis, Yasushi Nakamura.

Discography

As leader

Collaborations
Co-led with Rodney Whitaker
With Manhattan Project
With Arkadia Jazz All Stars
With Don Braden
With Donald Brown
With Donald Byrd
With Cyrus Chestnut
With Art Farmer
With Dan Faulk
With Ricky Ford
With Benny Golson
With the Benny Green Trio
With Vincent Herring
With Freddie Hubbard
With Jackie McLean
With Dewey Redman
With Woody Shaw
With Phil Woods
With Eliane Elias
With Christian McBride