First Listen: Tai Allen Pays Tribute To The Greats

Share this article

    It can be hard to pin down Renaissance man Tai Allen and exactly what he does as an artist, since he kind of does it all. Poet, singer, producer, cultural architect and techie entrepreneur, the 2010 National Poetry Award winner for “Album of the Year” is associated with not one, but three music outfits we’ve featured on SoulTracks, including vicelounge, HeavyLight, and The Originals. Better known for his left-of-center lo-fi, downtempo material and cult classics like “Oooh (Baby)” and “That Fall,” Allen has been quietly stretching himself over the last few years with jams from more unsung blues, jazz, and soul luminaries such as Oscar Brown Jr. and Gil Scott Heron, as well as his own critically acclaimed poetry set to music.

    It can be hard to pin down Renaissance man Tai Allen and exactly what he does as an artist, since he kind of does it all. Poet, singer, producer, cultural architect and techie entrepreneur, the 2010 National Poetry Award winner for “Album of the Year” is associated with not one, but three music outfits we’ve featured on SoulTracks, including vicelounge, HeavyLight, and The Originals. Better known for his left-of-center lo-fi, downtempo material and cult classics like “Oooh (Baby)” and “That Fall,” Allen has been quietly stretching himself over the last few years with jams from more unsung blues, jazz, and soul luminaries such as Oscar Brown Jr. and Gil Scott Heron, as well as his own critically acclaimed poetry set to music. His newly released set on Bandcamp, Live Produce, captures this fertile period of traditionalist exploration with some of Allen’s best live performances of this material.

    From the American folk song that has become Allen’s signature cover, “St. James Infirmary,” to Gil Scott Heron’s “Home Is Where The Hatred Is,” Allen doesn’t tread on routine ground with his nu-blues renditions of these rarer classics. One such hidden gem Allen performed at BAMcafé in Brooklyn, New York was a track originally cut on Donald Byrd in 1960 and written by Oscar Brown Jr. and Duke Pearson, the delectable “Jeannine.” Rarely covered, Allen adroitly handles the song’s jazz nuances on a bed beautifully laid by Onaje Allan-Gumbs, Granville Mullins, David Pilgrim, Entrified, and V. Jeffrey Smith—members of The Originals project (which also includes Dasan Ahanu and Mic El). Evoking the smoky jazz clubs of lore, this vibrant live performance finally made available on record offers a tantalizing taste of the nourishment to be found among this Live Produce. Come take a bite.

    By L. Michael Gipson