Tony Allen

Tony Allen performing at Internet Festival in Pisa, 2019.
Image: Lunghezza infinita neutrale. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.

Summary

Tony Allen (1940–2020) was a Nigerian drummer, composer and bandleader whose playing helped form Afrobeat. His work with Fela Kuti and Africa 70 made an independently moving drum-kit language a central part of the ensemble sound.

Life and career

Allen began drumming as a young adult and worked through Nigerian jazz and highlife settings before the mature Afrobeat period. After leaving Fela's band he developed his own groups and recordings, later settling in France. The solo career continued through collaborations and records that moved well beyond a single historical band.

Music and style

His drum parts combine several rhythmic directions without losing the larger dance pulse. Jazz drummers including Art Blakey and Max Roach were important points of reference; later projects also brought dub and hip-hop into his recorded sound. His influence is therefore audible both in Afrobeat's ensemble interlock and in the ways later musicians approached a flexible, layered groove. The drummer's compositional decisions are essential to hearing that contribution.

Works and performances

Progress, Secret Agent and The Source offer different entries into his work as a leader. The Blue Note period also includes A Tribute to Art Blakey and the posthumous There Is No End.