Harry Allen & Martin Sasse
Biography Harry Allen & Martin Sasse
Harry Allen
Stan Getz was once asked his idea of the perfect tenor saxophone soloist. His answer was “… my technique, Al Cohn’s ideas, and Zoot’s time.” The fulfillment of that ideal may well be embodied in Harry Allen. – Gene Lee.BMG recording artist Harry Allen has eighteen recordings to his name, and is about to record his sixth for BMG-RCA Victor. Three of Harry’s CD’s have won Gold Disc Awards from Japan’s Swing Journal Magazine, and his CD Tenors Anyone? won both the Gold Disc Award and the New Star Award. His recording have made the top ten list for favorite new releases in Swing Journal Magazine’s reader’s poll.
Harry has performed at Jazz Festivals and Clubs worldwide, frequently touring the United States, Europe, and the Far East. He has performed with Kenny Burrell, Rosemary Clooney, Flip Phillips, Oliver Jackson, Scott Hamilton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gus Johnson, Jeff Hamilton, Terry Gibbs, Warren Vaché, and has recorded with Johnny Mandel, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron, Dave McKenna, Dori Caymmi, Larry Goldings, George Mraz, Jake Hanna, Lewis Nash and Al Foster, among others. Harry is also featured on many of John Pizzarelli’s recordings including the soundtrack and an onscreen cameo in the feature film The Out of Towners starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. He has also done a series of commercials for ESPN starring Robert Goulet.
Harry was born in Washington D.C. in 1966, and was raised in Los Angeles, CA and Burrillville, RI. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree inm music in 1988 from Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he currently resides.
Martin Sasse
has worked with almost all legends in international jazz over the course of his stage career and has long been one of the outstanding jazz pianists in Europe. He has released ten albums under his own name and has performed as a guest on countless recordings and concerts around the world. Legends of jazz continue to shape his path, including Al Foster, Jimmy Cobb, Steve Grossman and Lee Konitz. For Billy Cobham and Hiram Bullock he switched from the piano to the Hammond B3 and presents himself as an excellent organist.
Sasse has toured with the New York Voices, Dusko Gojkovich, Al Foster, Rick Margitza and Dick Oatts and was a pianist in Till Brönner's Talking Jazz series at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. He accompanied singing greats such as Roberta Gambarini, Tierney Sutton, Janis Siegel (Manhattan Transfer) and Bobby McFerrin. His regular partners include Philip Catherine, Peter Bernstein, Dennis Mackrel and Scott Hamilton.
The Martin Sasse Trio has existed in changing formations for almost thirty years. Even the first album, "Here we come" (2000), received the best international reviews. Later albums feature Vincent Herring, Miles Davis saxophonist Steve Grossmann and guitarist Peter Bernstein. The trio received the German Record Critics' Prize in 2010 for the album "Good Times" with Charlie Mariano.
Martin Sasse has also accompanied world stars from pop and classical music, including Bobby McFerrin, Tommy Emmanuel and Chris de Burgh. He performed with Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo and played the European tour "Symphonicity" with Sting and the Bochumer Symphoniker. With Helge Schneider, Udo Jürgens and Udo Lindenberg, Sasse's playing partners also include some of the greatest German-speaking entertainers.
The highly acclaimed film "Blue", which premiered at the "Jazzahead" in Bremen, accompanied Sasse's performances for over two years, e.g. at the legendary jazz club "Smalls" in New York and at the famous Annex Sound Studio in Tokyo. His concert tours have taken Martin Sasse through Europe and the USA, to Japan and China, to Egypt and the Sudan. He teaches at the Institute for Media and Music at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf.
