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Billy Higgins, Hank Jones, Benny Green & Carl Allen

By Joe Dimino | Neon Jazz
February 9, 2025
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We launch the 892nd episode of Neon Jazz with a true jazz veteran—Carl Allen—who's back with his first album in decades. Tippin' (2025) marks his triumphant return, all while he continues shaping the next generation of jazz as the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. This hour is packed with stories from his remarkable career and the jazz legends who shaped him—giants like Sonny Rollins, Benny Green, Billy Higgins, Art Blakey, and Charlie Parker. Along the way, we drop fresh sounds from Eldad Tarmus, Blue Jitters, and Hans Luchs, before wrapping things up with a classic Hank Jones story. So settle in, turn it up, and dig the jazz, my friends.

Playlist

Carl Allen

drums
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Carl Allen "Happy Times" Tippin' (Cellar Live) 0:00

Host talks 5:57

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins "I Can't Get Started" Live At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note) 9:20

Eldad Tarmu

vibraphone
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Eldad Tarmu "Opus De Funk" Silver on Aluminum (Queen of Bohemia Productions) 13:49

Host talks 17:10

Benny Green

piano
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Benny Green "Central Park South" Benny's Crib (Sunnyside Records) 17:43

Blue Jitters "Jazz (Ain't Nothing But Soul)" Blue Jitters (Swinguez Mustaches) 20:37

Host talks 23:32

Billy Higgins

drums
1936 - 2001

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Higgins "Easy Walker" The VIP Trio Standards (Fresh Sound Records) 24:29

Michel Petrucciani

piano
1962 - 1999

" data-original-title="" title="">Michel Petrucciani Trio "Someday My Prince Will Come" azz Club Montmartre -CPH 1988 [Live] [Disc 2] (Storyville Records) 29:44

Host talks 34:06

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers "Blues March" Compact Jazz (Verve) 34:44

Ebo Taylor

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Ebo Taylor and Adrian Younge with Ali Shaheed Muhammad "Get Up" Ebo Taylor JID022 (Jazz is Dead) 40:21

Host talks 44:08

Charlie Parker

saxophone, alto
1920 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Parker "Perdido (Live)" Bird in Kansas City (Verve) 45:31

Hans Luchs

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Hans Luchs "Your Truth or The Truth" The Spell is Broken (Fresh Sound New Talent) 47:58

Host talks 51:37

Hank Jones

piano
1918 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Hank Jones "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" Great Jazz Trio (After Beat) 52:26

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