For a decade, the trio of Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, and Ted Nash has coalesced into a singular ensemble highlighting impressive group interplay and creative interpretations of the music of their favorite composers. After years of focusing on the music of others, the drummer-less trio found it the right time to take on the compositions of it's members on the new recording, Triological. The relationships between Allison, Cardenas, and Nash have spanned decades. Woodwind master Nash enlisted Allison for the bassist's first professional gig in 1990. Their bond deepened later in the decade as they became members of the Jazz Composers Collective. Guitarist Steve Cardenas was brought into Allison's orbit in 2004, the two discovering a deep connection evidenced on the many projects they have worked on together. The trio came together when Cardenas and Allison were approached with a gig in Upstate New York. For the performance, they decided to focus on the music of guitar legend Jim Hall. After a first rehearsal, Cardenas and Allison decided to add a horn to the mix in homage to the revolutionary trio of Jimmy Giuffre, which had featured Hall and bassist Ralph Pena. Their choice of Nash as the woodwind voice was inspired and the trio has been impressing listeners ever since. The configuration of the trio may owe much to the model of that Giuffre group. They reference, but do not intend to duplicate, that trio's example, as the instrumentation has allowed for an openness to explore any musical direction, from free to folk, all in the most conversational of manners. Naturally, the group's first recording, Quiet Revolution (Newvelle and Sonic Camera Records, 2016/2018), featured their arrangements of Hall and Giuffre. Their next recording, Somewhere Else: West Side Story Songs (Plastic Sax Records, 2019) presented the trio's takes on the music of Leonard Bernstein's beloved musical. Their 2022 Sunnyside recording, Healing Power, celebrated the genius of Carla Bley and their 2024 release, Tell The Birds I Said Hello, shined light on the brilliance of Herbie Nichols. When faced with choosing another composer to feature, the trio reached a creative dead end. They felt that it was time to do something conceptually different and that provided a reflection of where they were as an ensemble. Each being a celebrated composer in his own right, the trio decided it was time for a new challenge: To write for this themselves. The trio members knew that a program of original music from each member would provide a fantastic mix of music, as they all write so differently from one another. The trio brought three pieces each (plus one more for Allison) to record at Matt Balitsaris's Maggie's Farm Studio over two days in late June 2025. The trio of Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, and Ted Nash has spent ten years honing an individual group sound by funneling the influences, their years of experience, and their love of discovery. It is through that prism that their new recording, Triological, highlights a new side of the trio's personality, as they explore their own compositions.
There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when Bernard Allison returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, Highs And Lows, everything felt right with the world. "Just to be able to create music again after the pandemic," he says of that long-awaited rebirth, "was incredible." For 56 years, music has been Bernard Allison's essence. As the youngest son of the much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison, he was a bluesman from birth, naturally drawn to this ancient music that seemed to heal deep wounds, and held spellbound by early encounters with heavyweights like Muddy Waters, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor.
2022 release. There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when son of the late blues legend Luther Allison, Bernard Allison, returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, Highs And Lows, everything felt right with the world. "Just to be able to create music again after the pandemic," he says of that long-awaited rebirth, "was incredible."
The great Chicago bluesman Luther Allison lived by a simple philosophy that he was happy to share ("Leave your ego, play the music, love the people"). Now, twenty-three years after Luther's passing, the great man would surely be thrilled to hear Bernard Allison's Songs From The Road, and proud to find that his ferociously talented son is sworn to the same mission, bringing soul-soaked, all-guns-blazing blues to audiences who need it more than ever. Released in February 2020 as a CD/DVD set on Ruf Records, Songs From The Road is a live snapshot so raw and real that hearing it feels like hanging off the security barrier of Dortmund's Musiktheater Piano club when Bernard and his crack-squad band hit town last October 23rd. With an A-list crew on-hand - and a dynamic mix from industry legend Jim Gaines - this immersive recording catches every last flash of virtuosity, bead of sweat and drop of atmosphere. "I actually prefer live performances," says Bernard, "because you can communicate and interact with the audience. I basically feed off of that energy, combined with my group's talent and personalities."
Dangerous" - that's the word Luther Allison came up with to describe his son's guitar playing. At the age of 32, Bernard Allison combines the fiery influences of his father and others of that generation (like Freddy King and Albert Collins) with blues rockers like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, while capturing an aggressive, no-holds-barred sound all his own. 1st singles: "I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" and "The Way Love Was Meant To Be.
Reissue of 1997 album. The title is program. Born in 1965 in Chicago Bernard Allison was introduced into the roots of black music and playing electric guitar by his father, the living blues legend luther allison. At the age of 20 he played with the Queen of Blues Koko Taylor for two years and took part in countless sessions with musicians like Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey. He joined the tour band of Luther Allison in 1989 after a furious collaboration of "Father & Son" at the '89 Chicago Blues Festival. A recording of this formation is to be heard on the Luther Allison album Let's Try It again. Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 with the significant title The Next Generation. Bernard was not only influenced by the old masters or musicians like Jimmy Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan but also grew up with the music of George Clinton and Johnny Guitar Watson. Born With The Blues was recorded in Chicago and mixed in Memphis - together with the band of blues legend Buddy Guy (with Ray Killer Allison/drums). Bernard's co-producer is the Rounder Bullseye producer Ron Levy who also plays the keyboards.
2018 release. Starting the blues calendar with a bang in 2018, Let It Go feels like a homecoming. After all, this studio album sees Bernard return to Ruf Records: the iconic German label that was created in 1994 to serve as a home for his father, the much-missed Chicago heavyweight, Luther Allison. Just as significant, Let It Go also found Bernard recording in the birthplace of the blues - Tennessee - and returns his sound to it's raw fundamentals, on 12 songs that hold up without embellishment. Let It Go was recorded at Bessie Blue Studio, Stantonville, Tennessee, with legendary music producer Jim Gaines, recalls Bernard. "We made the decision to not flood the CD with keyboards or horns, to go back to the true basic rhythm section sound - and to show more mature songwriting."
Blues legend Luther Allison is considered to be one of the greats, with a career that lasted nearly 40 years, but didn't make him famous until the last few years of his life. UNDERGROUND is a lost recording from his early session years, recorded in 1957 under the guidance of Bobby Rush, this album features 8 never before heard tracks of Luther in his early years. A must for fans of Luther Allison.
Never released in the US, FUNKIFINO, pronounced funk-if-i-know, is Bernard Allison's ground- breaking album the takes the tradition of black music he grew up with and melting it with the blues from Koko Taylor and Luther Allison to Johnny Winter. A must for any fan of the blues.
