What's Up?
Mr. Allen is excited to join the voice faculty of Columbia College of Chicago this upcoming Fall 2020 term. He holds a degree(s) in Music/Vocal Performance and Speech Communication from Morgan State University - along with additional graduate work at the University of California, Irvine in the MFA, Vocal Arts program.
Life & Work
Bio:
From the concert stage to jamming in Chicago’s jazz scene, G. Thomas Allen is a multi-genre Singer/Songwriter and “one of the most compelling countertenors voices you’ll ever hear.” (The Musical Hype) Redefining the career possibilities of his rare vocal category, generally tied to classical music, he is distinguished as being a part of the historic “first trio of African American Countertenors to appear together in an opera production” (Los Angeles Times) and takes his place amongst The Enduring Legacy of Black Singers in Opera, as noted by the Metropolitan Opera Guild (May 2020 podcast).
Outside the world of opera, he ventures into the modern jazz space. Paying homage to the post-bop era, he released his self-titled debut album July 3, 2020 and was the No. #1 jazz album on iTunes. His work is a collection of songs with the aesthetics of R&B, blues and Gospel roots. Bridging genres with an undeniable melodic blend of tradition and modernity. He is joined by vet Dennis Luxion on the piano (known for playing for Chet Baker in the 80's), bassist Jeremiah Hunt and drummer Gregory Artry (with special guest drummer Kyle Swan, saxophonist Sharel Cassity and keyboardist Andrew Tombs on single only).
His career also expands to the sacred and academic landmarks. Mr. Allen presented in the 85th National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses (NCGCC). He has been a guest lecturer at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD presenting on the historic understanding of African American Church Music to Present Day. In 2018, he collaborated with maestro Ricky Dillard and New G – leading the opening song on Stellar Award Nominated Album, 10 LIVE, “Doxology”. This album was also nominated for a 2018 Dove Award in the category of Traditional Gospel Album of the Year. Subsequent album, Choirmaster, he’s leading an arrangement of “Let There Be Peace on Earth”. (Motown Gospel 2020)
Quotes, Notes & Etc.
Other noted credits: Wolf Trap Opera Co., Black Pearl Chamber Ensemble, Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Performed at Dave Brubeck’s 80th Birthday Party, 1st Black History Program of Condoleezza Rice, Baltimore Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Christmas Tour with Faith Hill, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, (COX) New Orleans Communication/Jazz Fest, NPR, Maryland Public TV & CNN.
The Recôncavo is an almost invisible center-of-gravity. Circumscribing the Bay of All Saints, this region was landing for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. Not unrelated, it is also birthplace of some of the most physically & spiritually uplifting music ever made. —Sparrow
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers: Personal recording engineer for Prince, inc. "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"... Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay. They paid.
MATRIX MUSICAL
The Matrix was built below among some of the world's most powerfully moving music, some of it made by people barely known beyond village borders. Or in the case of Sodré, his anthem A MASSA — a paean to Brazil's poor ("our pain is the pain of a timid boy, a calf stepped on...") — having blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south, before he was silenced. (that's me left, with David Dye & Kim Junod for U.S. National Public Radio) ... The Matrix started with Sodré, with João do Boi, with Roberto Mendes, with Bule Bule, with Roque Ferreira... music rooted in the sugarcane plantations of Bahia. Hence our logo (a cane cutter).