Author Archives: Mike Allemana

Pre-order your copy of Live at the Green Mill on Ears&Eyes Records!!!

Dear friends,

We are so excited to announce that the new album Live at the Green Mill with the George Freeman/Mike Allemana Organ 4tet with special guest Bernard Purdie on Ears&Eyes Records has gone to production. The official release date is August 18, but you can pre-order your copy now (vinyl with digital download or just digital download): https://mikeallemana.bandcamp.com

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All pre-orders come with two instant tracks, so you get to preview what the album will sound like! Pretty cool! 

Howard Reich wrote a wonderful story about the making of this album: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/reich/ct-jazz-george-freeman-ent-0614-20170613-column.html

Illustration by Luke Etcheverry, design by Fede Maks

Announcing pre-release fundraising campaign for the Freeman/Allemana 4tet with special guest Bernard Purdie

Dear friends,

Today George Freeman and I are launching a pre-release campaign to raise funds to help finish the mixing, editing, and manufacturing of our first recording, Live at the Green Mill, with organist Pete Benson and special guest Bernard Purdie. We hope to release the album on 12″ vinyl this summer with Ears&Eyes Records. In April of 2015 engineer David Zuchowski recorded us live at the Green Mill in Chicago. If you can, please help us release this recording by visiting our campaign: webpage:https://groovebot.gottagrooverecords.com/campaign/detail/4819

This recording captures two packed nights at the Green Mill and the incredible musical energy that George and Bernard create together.   Also, George turns 90 this year on April 10, 2017!!!!  Getting this recording out would be a great way to celebrate. See the campaign for full details.

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photo by Michael Jackson

Tammy McCann and Mike Allemana Live at Studio 5 in Evanston, Feb. 12

Dear friends, don’t miss this special concert:

Tammy McCann and Mike Allemana
1934 West Dempster in Evanston
Sunday, February 12
7:30pm
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photo by Harvey Tillis
 
Tammy McCann—voice
Mike Allemana—guitar 
 
Come check out Tammy and I grooving in this great new space. This is the start of a new jazz series hosted by Steve Rashid.  It’ll be lots fun!

George Freeman performs “Birth Sign” at Fulton Street Collective January 18, 2017

So excited to announce that George Freeman and I will be performing his first album, Birth Sign, on Denmark records and recorded in 1969, the year I was born. We’ll be at Chris Anderson’s Jazz Record Art Collective on Wednesday, January 18 at 8pm.  George is so excited to revisit this session, which included Von and organist Sonny Burke.  allemana freeman 1

George Freeman–guitar

Mike Allemana–guitar

Pete Benson–organ

Mike Schlick–drums

 

WDCB presents: George Freeman/Mike Allemana 4tet, Friday, August 26th at the Promontory

The George Freeman/Mike Allemana Organ 4tet
in Hyde Park
5311 S. Lake Park Ave.
Friday, August 26th
7pm show
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George Freeman—guitar
Mike Allemana—guitar
Pete Benson—organ
Mike Schlick—drums
 
George and the band’s first show in Hyde Park!!! We’ll be playing some new tunes recently composed by George Freeman, and he’ll be trying out his new frets on the old Gibson 335, new frets by Chad Fitzpatrick. 

 

Philip Bohlman’s Jazz Worlds/World Jazz book release, May 24, Seminary Co-op

I am very excited to be performing solo guitar as part of a discussion of Philip Bohlman’s new book, Jazz Worlds/World Jazz.  It’s a free event open to the public and should be a fascinating conversation with Philip Bohlman and Travis Jackson.  Click here for more info.
Event date:
Tuesday, May 24, 2016 – 6:00pm
Event address:
Seminary Co-op Bookstore
5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Philip Bohlman discusses his new book Jazz Worlds/World Jazz with Travis Jackson. Michael Allemana will contribute musically to the evening’s conversations, performing jazz guitar from traditions close to home – the Chicago sound of the great Von Freeman, with whom Michael played for many years – and from traditions farther field, not least among them his own connections to Brazilian jazz.
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20 Years of The Model Citizens, March 20th, 2016 at Martyr’s!!!!

As jazz musicians, we find ourselves in all kinds of musical situations throughout our career.  When we’re young and learning to develop an improvisational voice, say the early to mid-20s, we go to jam sessions, hang out with musicians at clubs and parties, put together playing sessions at musicians’ homes, have the periodic gig full of musical epiphanies, and have even more gigs of mediocre misery. We pay our dues, and through the battle in the “trenches” (Von Freeman used to say “Michael, the trenches will make you strong!”) we start to develop our sound, play better gigs, maybe play less gigs, maybe more, but we continue on the path of searching for new musical worlds to assist in bringing forth our inner musical voice.

In 1996, at the age of 26, I was practicing 6 hours a day, playing with Charles Earland and Lin Halliday, and picking up what gigs I could to make the bills.  The previous year I had become friends with bassist Matt Ferguson, pianists Brian O’Hern and Dan Trudell, drummer Gerald Dowd, saxophonist Pat Mallinger, and several others, so come 1996, I was part of a community of young jazz musicians, one that was daily trying to find their voice and find gigs to grow musically and pay bills.  At this time, Brian O’Hern had been itching to start a big band.  He asked me, along with Matt Ferguson and Pat Mallinger among many others, to play a gig in March 1996 at Martyr’s, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave. That fateful gig initiated a search for original musical sound by O’Hern with myself and many others growing and searching with him, a search that has continued once a month for 20 years.

On March 20, 2016, Brian O’Hern and the Model Citizens will be celebrating these 20 years of musical growth and friendship.  I am so proud to be part of this project not only because of O’Hern’s continuous musical experimentation, but also because Brian and the other cats have created and sustained a musical community. This is rare in our times. O’Hern’s musical personality, the high caliber musicianship among the collaborating musicians, and the sacrifice that the Gallery Cabaret’s owner, Kenny, made to allow this band to perform in his small club once a month have helped bring people together around music.  I am deeply grateful to Brian for allowing me to be part of something so musical, challenging, and beautiful.  Please come celebrate musical community with the Model Citizens where it all started:

Brian O’Hern and the Model Citizens

Sunday, March 20, 8pm

Martyr’s, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave.  $20 

 

Caroline Davis 4tet/quintet this weekend Dec 4/5

I am super excited to be performing with saxophonist Caroline Davis this weekend.  She comes back to Chicago for some cool gigs.

December 4th and 5th at Andy’s jazz club, 10 E. Hubbard, 5pm-8:30pm. We will be performing tunes that Lin Halliday and Von Freeman loved to perform. It was fun getting these tunes together, going back to the old charts I made with Lin.

December 5th at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave., 10pm, celebrating the release of her new CD, Doors: Chicago Storylines. See here for Peter Margasak’s review. Special guest trumpeter Russ Johnson joins us.

Caroline Davis – alto saxophone

Mike Allemana – guitar

John Tate – bass

Jeremy Cunningham – drums