Aimée Allen Quartet

Vocalist and composer / lyricist Aimée Allen brings her dynamic band with versatile guitarist Tony Romano, world-renowned bassist François Moutin, and acclaimed drummer Kenneth Salters. The group’s musical aesthetic is exciting, rhythmic, lyrical, and improvisational. Its repertoire is focused on Aimée’s compelling, soulful original music and arrangements from the jazz canon. In this performance, they will play inspired arrangements of standards and also debut a new work from “Sweet Ephemera”, a song cycle by Aimée commissioned by Chamber Music America under a New Jazz Works grant. Sweet Ephemera explores the precious and fleeting nature of time through love, loss, and mold-breaking. Expect a rich, exciting set full of song poetry. 

Made possible with the support of Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works program funded through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Aimée Allen

Jazz vocalist and composer/lyricist Aimée Allen is known for her singular voice and her poignant lyrical compositions. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she began singing professionally while a student in Paris, prior to making New York her home base. She now performs regularly in New York City and frequently tours in the U.S. and abroad. She has recorded 6 studio albums and appeared as a guest artist on others. Her latest, “Love and the Catalyst”, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album – Vocal. Her prior release, “Wings Uncaged”, was named one of Downbeat Magazine’s best of the year. Aimée’s original music has been licensed for film and television and has been recognized internationally. She has been named a Rising Star jazz vocalist on Downbeat Magazine’s Annual Critics Poll and has sung with many renowned jazz musicians including Romero Lubambo, Ron McClure, François Moutin, Roswell Rudd, Ari Hoenig, Joel Frahm, and Yomo Toro. Aimée was awarded a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant to write new original music for her ensemble.

Internationally recognized jazz bass player, François Moutin has toured extensively all over the world with ahost of artists, including with the PMH trio including Ari Hoenig and Jean-Michel Pilc, with a succession of world-renowned bands co-led with his brother Louis Moutin: the Moutin Reunion Quartet, the Moutin Factory Quintet, and more recently the M.O.M. trio with his brother and Jowee Omicil. He has also toured with Mike Stern, Rudresh Mahanthappa and many more. From 1988 on, he has performed consistently with artists such as Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Peter Erskine, Nguyen Le, Randy Brecker, Toots Thielemans, James Moody, Michel Legrand, Lee Konitz, Franck Wess, Ari Hoenig, Mike Stern, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Lew Soloff, Steve Kuhn, Billy Hart, Jeff Tain Watts, Victor Lewis, Dave Liebman, Mulgrew Miller, Harry Belafonte, and Joachim Kuhn, in major venues and festivals in countries on all 5 continents. François is also a frequent session player, appearing on countless recordings of groups he has led or co-led and as a sideman.

Tony Romano

Guitarist Tony Romano has been a visible part of the New York City music scene for over twenty years. Just Jazz Guitar magazine wrote “His tone is beautiful and soulful, and his remarkable technique is a servant to his rich musical imagination and broad harmonic palette.” With a wide range of playing styles, Tony has toured worldwide and performed and recorded with many notable Jazz, Latin, Pop, and Broadway artists, including Randy Brecker, Joe Locke, Michael Feinstein, Bill Warfield, Steve LaSpina, Joe Bataan, Dave Valentin, Candido Camero, Chembo Corniel, Yomo Toro, Joel Frahm, Thomas Chapin, Brit Woodman, Santi DeBriano, Paul Bollenback, Stanley Jordan, Debbie Gibson, Alex Gemignani, and Chuck Cooper. Tony’s guitar work can be heard on all 52 episodes of the BBC series 3rd & Bird as well as the Discovery Channel miniseries Going, Going, Gone! He has also performed for NPR broadcasts, and has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, Telemundo, and the ABC Morning Show. Tony is an Adjunct Professor at Five Towns College, and has been a Teaching Artist for the Kupferberg Center at Queens College, as well as an instructor for the National Guitar Workshop.

Kenn Salters

Kenn Salters is a three-time Grammy nominated composer and international touring percussionist. He’s toured in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the UAE. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a percussion performance degree, is a professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and also teaches steel pan to elementary students for Arts Connection, a nonprofit organization. His performance experiences include Rufus Reid, Tivon Pennicott, Andy Akiho, ArcoIris Sandoval, Don Byron, Chris Potter, Aretha Franklin, the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle corps, the Phoenix Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Philharmonic, and with broadway stars Leslie Odom Jr. and Renée Elise Goldsberry. He has also performed in theater productions of “Little Girl Blue, the Nina Simone Musical,” “Old Hats,” “Dream Girls,” and “South Pacific.” Kenn was also the winner of the Zildjian “Drummer Love” competition in the Northeast region and a winner of the “Sixth String Theory” contest that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. You can listen to his original compositions on his debut album “Enter To Exit” on all digital platforms.