{"id":806977,"date":"2020-04-30T16:48:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T22:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=992588"},"modified":"2020-04-30T16:48:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T22:48:59","slug":"tony-allen-pioneering-afrobeat-drummer-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/tony-allen-pioneering-afrobeat-drummer-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Allen, Pioneering Afrobeat Drummer, Has Died"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tony Allen<\/a>, the pioneering drummer who helped defined Afrobeat during his tenure with Fela Kuti, died Thursday. Rolling Stone<\/em> has confirmed Allen\u2019s death, yet a cause of death was not immediately available. <\/span>Sahara Reporters first reported<\/a> that Allen died in his now-native Paris, France.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a member of Africa 70, Allen helped revolutionize the art of drumming, appearing on classic Kuti albums like 1973\u2019s Gentleman<\/em>, 1975\u2019s Expensive Shit<\/em> and the Afrobeat legend\u2019s most enduring work, 1976\u2019s Zombie<\/em>. Each release featured Allen\u2019s innovative, hypnotic polyrhythmic grooves. \u201cWithout Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat,\u201d Kuti once said. Damon Albarn and Brian Eno were also famously enamored with Allen\u2019s playing. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Lagos, Nigerian-born Allen<\/span> was self-taught, and he didn\u2019t pick up the sticks until his late teens. <\/span>He studied a variety of jazz drummers, from <\/span>Art Blakey to Elvin Jones to Philly Joe Jones to Gene Krupa. Speaking with <\/span>The Wire<\/span><\/i>, Allen credited Max Roach with turning him on to the potential of the hi-hat. Later he met the drummer <\/span>Frank Butler, who influenced him to practice drumming on pillows. \u201c<\/span>It adds flexibility,\u201d Allen told The Guardian<\/em><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The drummer also picked up a wide-ranging musical education from the club circuit. \u201c<\/span>Latin American, African horns, jazz, highlife \u2026 you had to be able to play it all, because in the club they asked for it,\u201d Allen said<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

He first began performing alongside Kuti when both were sidemen in the African nation\u2019s jazz circuit; by mid-decade, Allen served as drummer in Kuti\u2019s \u201cKoola Lobitos\u201d jazz band, which later morphed into Africa 70. But <\/span>listeners weren\u2019t sure what to make of Koola Lobitos when the group started. \u201cIt was like a revolutionary music style coming to the country,\u201d Allen explained<\/a>. \u201cThey were used to the highlife thing\u2026 It was kind of strange for the people.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to his work with Kuti, Allen was known for his collaborations with Damon Albarn: Allen was a member of The Good, The Bad and the Queen alongside Albarn and the Clash\u2019s Paul Simonon and the Verve\u2019s Simon Tong, with that band releasing a pair of albums, a self-titled 2007 LP and 2018\u2019s Merrie Land<\/em>. Allen, Albarn and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea \u2014 under the moniker Rocket Juice & The Moon \u2014 also released a collaborative album in 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent years, Allen reconnected with his jazz roots, recording a tribute EP for his \u201chero\u201d Art Blakey<\/a> and teaming up with Jeff Mills for 2018\u2019s Tomorrow Comes the Harvest<\/em><\/a>. Earlier this year, Allen released Rejoice<\/em>, a collaboration with late South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome drummers don\u2019t know what it means to play soft, it\u2019s not in their book,\u201d Allen told The Guardian<\/em><\/a> in 2016. \u201cI know I can make my drums bring the house down if I have to. But I know how to make it subtle. You listen to it flowing like a river.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a developing story<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tony Allen, the pioneering drummer who helped defined Afrobeat during his tenure with Fela Kuti, died Thursday. Rolling Stone has confirmed Allen\u2019s death, yet a cause of death was not immediately available. Sahara Reporters first reported that Allen died in his now-native Paris, France. As a member of Africa 70, Allen helped revolutionize the art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-12 12:18:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}