UNC Faculty Jazz with Special Guests, Roland Barber and Carl Allen

Carl Allen & Roland Barber

With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades. His first hometown gigs were with sax greats Sonny Stitt and James Moody. Allen joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation and served as his Musical Director for eight years. He also played with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Jackie McLean (Dynasty), Donald Harrison (Indian Blues, Noveau Swing), Donald Byrd (A City Called Heaven), and Art Farmer (The Company I Keep). Carl Allen’s multifaceted career provides the perfect template for what a modern musician should be. As Sid Gribetz of Jazz Times wrote, “more than just another fine drummer, Carl Allen has it all together as a bandleader, businessman, and producer, becoming a force in today’s jazz world.” Allen maintains an exhaustive schedule of recording, touring and teaching. He remains active as a sideman with Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Benny Golson and others.

Native of Nashville, TN, known around the world as “Music City,” trombonist Roland Barber enjoys a career full of diverse and exciting musical pursuits at the highest level. Roland has achieved a powerful, soulful and spiritual artistry as a jazz performer, so much so that Curtis Fuller (John Coltrane’s only trombonist) exclaimed upon hearing him, “Now THAT’s what jazz trombone is all about!”  Barber has performed with titans of jazz music as well as young lions, including Stefon Harris, Sean Jones, Clark Terry, Branford Marsalis, Houston Person, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Chico O’Farill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Lainie Cooke and the Grammy-winning New Orleans Jazz Ensemble. Barber has performed in venues the world over, from Manhattan to Estonia, including Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Blue Note, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Madison Square Garden. Television appearances include MTV’s Making the Band, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, CBS’ Today Show and the ESPN Awards. Beyond the jazz realm, Roland has performed with a stylistically broad “who’s who” of the music scene, including the Wooten Brothers, Slavic Soul Party, Lauryn Hill, the Nashville Symphony, Lady A, Melinda Doolittle, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Lauren Daigle, Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo, the Wood Brothers, and many others.

Roland Barber, trombone
Rahsaan Barber, saxophones
Stephen Anderson, piano
Jason Foureman, bass
Carl Allen, drums