Tippin’ (Cellar Music Group)
Carl Allen
Released January 2025
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2025
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lgvcEKZPcrZ8kIK1lRRC428z1rEn-2-gE
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/album/7qvavbhqQnIvOquRa8sNx0?si=WPgW0aSsQual9_9QjkUgFw
About:
Tippin’ is the realization of a dream I’ve nurtured for quite some time. It’s been over 20 years since I last recorded as a leader, not counting the two records I made with my dear friend and bassist, Rodney Whitaker, Get Ready and Work To Do.
Tippin’ is a record that I would want to hear as a listener. Honoring listeners made personnel selection critical. As a drummer, the most important relationship is between the bass and drums. The dream team for this record is my friend and brother, Christian McBride, and the phenomenal Chris Potter.
McBride has appeared on more recordings that I had done than any other bassists and I currently play in one of his many bands, Inside Straight. Our extensive collaboration led me to think about creating something a bit different for both of us. This led to the idea of a chordless recording.
Not long ago, Christian and I were both part of an amazing recording by the genius pianist and composer Renee Rosnes. The saxophonist on that record was Chris Potter. Listening to Chris reminded me so much of the Sonny Rollins chordless trio date, Live at the Village Vanguard. That intuition solidified my decision to record with saxophone, bass, and drums.
When I record as a leader, I always think about the story I wish to tell. I put myself in the listener’s shoes and craft the music to feel like it’s telling a coherent story with a narrative arc. That process extends to the selection and sequence of tunes. For this record, I had to carefully choose tunes that would work well in a chordless setting.
I wanted the recording process to feel organic, natural, and free-flowing. That led to the scrapping of some planned tunes that didn’t feel right and others chosen spontaneously in the studio.
Some tunes planned prior to the studio session didn’t feel right, so we omitted them, while others were decided on the spot. We did not rehearse before entering the studio, and we recorded the entire album in about five hours. I trusted the gifts that McBride and Potter brought to the table, allowing their interpretations to shape the music.
Carl Allen (July 2024, New York)
Track Listing:
1. Parker’s Mood 06:14
2. Happy Times 05:35
3. A Morning Story 06:06
4. Hidden Agenda 05:54
5. Alter Ego 06:48
6. The Inchworm 04:08
7. L’s Bop 06:43
8. Song For Abdullah 05:05
9. Roy’s Joy 05:53
10. James 05:03
11. They Say It’s Wonderful 06:33
12. Put On A Haapy Face 06:08
Personnel:
Carl Allen: drums
Christian McBride: bass
Chris Potter: tenor & soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
John Lee: piano (track 8)
Executive Producer: Cory Weeds and Raymon Torchinsky
Produced by Cory Weeds and Carl Allen
Recorded January 13th, 2024, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, by Maureen Sickler
Mixed and Mastered by Shawn Pierce
Cover Illustration © www.heudorf.com, Naíma Granitza
Photography by William Brown
Design and layout by Tilda Hedwig
Special thanks to Yvonne DeTroye, John Lee
Review:
Drummer Carl Allen digs into the acoustic jazz tradition with gusto on 2025’s Tippin’. Joining him are two equal jazz heavyweights in saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Christian McBride. These are musicians who can play anything and have, digging into big band, avant-garde, and fusion. This is especially true of Potter, whose albums often push the edges of post-bop. All of which makes their collaboration here such a delight. Tippin’ is a kind of throwback jazz album, a straight-ahead blower split between classic standards and originals. It’s also a trio album without a chordal instrument like a piano or guitar. This means McBride is the only harmonic anchor and both he and Potter are free to move in an almost three-dimensional way through a song’s chordal form. The result is an album that feels loose but hard-swinging, muscular, yet endlessly lyrical. It’s a potent vibe, evoking classic dates like Sonny Rollins’ A Night at the Village Vanguard and Ornette Coleman’s At the “Golden Circle” Stockholm, Vol. 1. The trio announces their intent from the start, striding boldly into “Parker’s Mood,” one the most iconic of Charlie Parker’s late-’40s tunes. With Allen and McBride laying down a greasy pulse, Potter rips into the melody, his throaty tenor cutting deep with a bluesy bar room swagger. The tune is at once warmly familiar and yet has the shock of the new. It’s a balance they strike throughout the album, leaping into a brisk and angular take on “Happy Times,” conjuring the kinetic spirit of the John Coltrane quartet on the waltz “The Inchworm,” and offering a dusky, Dexter Gordon-esque reading of ballad “They Say It’s Wonderful.” Just as compelling are Allen’s originals, especially the soulful “Hidden Agenda” (featuring Potter on bass clarinet) and the minor-key swinger “Roy’s Joy,” dedicated to the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. The group is also joined by pianist John Lee for a poignantly rendered mid-album take on Kenny Barron’s ballad “Song for Abdullah.” With Tippin’, Allen has made an album alive with the jazz spirit.
Matt Collar (AllMusic)
