Biography
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Born In
Auburn, Lee County, Alabama, United States
A native of Auburn, Alabama, Allen was exposed to blues and R&B at an early age. Moving into jazz and fusion in his teens, he attended Berklee College of Music and shortly after, moved to Los Angeles to attend Musician’s Institute.
Allen has a touch that most guitarists would kill for. Utilizing influences ranging from Wayne Shorter to the Beatles, his style is exciting and eclectic.
He has performed and/or recorded with jazz and R&B luminaries including Patti Austin, Maya, Roberta Flack, BeBe and CeCe Winan, Randy Crawford, Amy Grant, The Crusaders, Bobby Caldwell, James Ingram, Marilyn Scott, Eric Marienthal, Boney James, Marc Antoine, Gino Vannelli and many, many others.
On staff at “Musician’s Institute”, Allen offers a musical blend of jazz, blues, and rock with a “grassroots” style. Although one might hear guitar influences like Ry Cooder to Pat Metheny, Robben Ford to Alan Holdsworth, Allen has his own “twist” on it all.
Being an active studio musician as well as live performer, he has written songs for Larry Carlton, Patti Austin, Jeff Kashiwa as well as the long running T.V. show on C.B.S. “JAG”. His contributions were also heard on the “EFX” network.
Allen has been recently writing for several cable tv shows including, “Pawn stars” one big happy family, and “build it bigger” and has just finished his third C.D. “Falling Up” featuring Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Babko, Dave Hooper, Melvin Davis and others… He is currently working on a new CD
Using a variety of guitars and amps, his main gear is an Xotic electric (Prosoundcommunications.com) a ‘59 “historic” Gibson Les Paul , a 1961 Gibson Les Paul Jr equipped with two Tom Holmes pickups (mostly used for slide), a “67 Telecaster, a “61 Les Paul Special and an Ibanez AM-255 a 1932 Dobro. Amplifiers of preference have lately been vintage blackface Fender Deluxe Reverbs,Roy Blankenship amps , Brad Jackson and Bogner amps …….and lot’s of pedals!
Allen’s endorsements include Ernie Ball, Brian Moore guitars, Line 6, Bogner, Bugera, B-Band, Xotic pedals, Xotic effects, and Curt Mangan strings
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