1. Allen Lowe is a composer, musician, music historian, and sound restoration specialist.
16 Facts About Allen Lowe
1. 2.
Allen Lowe plays alto saxophone, C-melody saxophone, and guitar and has recorded with Julius Hemphill, Marc Ribot, Roswell Rudd, Don Byron, Doc Cheatham, and David Murray.
3.
Allen Lowe has produced a series of historical projects on American popular song, jazz, and the blues.
4.
Allen Lowe started playing saxophone in jazz groups at age 15.
5.
Allen Lowe had some of his first jazz experiences, as a teenager, at the legendary Lower East Side "Slugs Saloon," seeing Ornette Coleman's band and Charles Mingus, among others.
6.
Allen Lowe dropped out of the Yale School of Drama after one year of studying to be a playwright.
7.
Allen Lowe met and married his wife, and they moved to Brooklyn where Lowe completed a master's degree in Library Sciences from St John's University.
8.
Allen Lowe became more interested in avant-garde music and began composing, performing, and recording.
9.
In 1990 Allen Lowe began working for the mayor of New Haven and became director of Jazz New Haven, an annual, free festival.
10.
Allen Lowe ran the festival for three years, hiring musicians such as Tony Williams, Max Roach, Jaki Byard, Tito Puente, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Ray Barretto, and James Moody.
11.
Allen Lowe began composing again and taught himself audio restoration.
12.
Allen Lowe began doing freelance audio work for Rhino Records, Shout Records, Rykodisc, Sony, and Venus Records and for Michael Feinstein and Terry Gross.
13.
Allen Lowe lectured on musical topics and moderated panels at the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies and the annual EMP Pop Conference in Seattle, Washington.
14.
Allen Lowe lectured for the United States Information Agency in Europe on American music history.
15.
Around 2001, Allen Lowe began playing and recording on guitar and alto saxophone.
16.
Allen Lowe was voted 2021 Jazz Times Readers' Poll Artist of the Year.