Jackie Allen signed with Blue Note Records in April 2005 and her first CD with her new label is in the works.
Her 2004 release Love Is Blue (A440 Music Group) reached number eight nationally in airplay and the top fifteen on the Billboard charts. A collection of classic and contemporary love songs, Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times described the CD's original tunes as "Dazzling" and Doug Levine of Voice of America News called Allen "One of today's most distinctive recording artists."
Jackie's 2003 release, The Men In My Life, (A440 Music Group) featured songs made famous by the great male singers and singer/songwriters in both the jazz and pop genres. The recording debuted in the top 25 on the Billboard jazz charts. Rick Kogan of WGN Radio calls it, "An amazing, amazing cd." Don Heckman of the Los Angles Times calls it, "a sparkling performance."
Produced by two-time Grammy winning producer Ralph Jungheim, Jackie's previous solo recording Which? (Naxos), was released in 38 countries. Kirk Silsbee, contributor to Down Beat, Jazziz, Stereophile, calls Which?, "as close to a perfect vocalist album as we're likely to hear this year." Her duo album Landscapes-Bass Meets Voice (Red Mark Records) pairs her with bassist Hans Sturm. Dave Nathan (All Music Guide) describes her performance as, "striking... her voice takes on more shapes and forms than one has the right to expect from the human vocal chords..."

Her self-produced debut recording Never Let Me Go (Lake Shore Jazz) received glowing reviews in Down Beat, Jazz Times, Swing Journal and the Chicago Tribune and remained in the Gavin Jazz Chart top 20 for 13 weeks. The perennial favorite holiday album, Santa Baby and Autumn Leaves (both on RA Records) pairs Jackie with vocalist/pianist Judy Roberts. As two of Chicago's most popular female artists, their collaboration has inspired an annual series of SRO concerts. The Chicago Tribune calls Santa Baby, "The most endearing of holiday albums".

Performances

Jackie's extraordinary talent has taken her across the globe. She has toured Morocco as part of a cultural goodwill tour, Brazil with her voice/bass duo, and China where she was the only jazz artist to headline at the Beijing Music Festival. She performs frequently in Europe having appeared twice at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Mittenwald and Reutlingen Festivals in Germany, and the Edinburgh Fringe and Scottish Double Bass Festivals. Nationally she has toured throughout the midwest and the west coast, appearing numerous times in Los Angeles. She has performed at the International Association of J. Educators Conference in New Orleans, with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra in an Evening of Cole Porter and at the Ravinia, Detroit, and Chicago J. Festivals.

Teaching and more

Jackie Allen, one of Chicago's most influential and respected jazz educators, joined the faculty of Chicago Center for the Performing Arts (Roosevelt University) to teach jazz voice beginning in Fall 2005. She has taught many successful Chicago vocalists at Elmhurst College and at The Old Town School of Folk Music. She is frequently featured with university jazz ensembles as a guest performer and clinician including Roosevelt University, DePaul University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Iowa, and Ball State University. She co-produced and starred in the sold-out benefit show, "America 1941" featuring actor John Mahoney, known for his work on the hit TV comedy Frasier. She served as a Governor of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for two terms. Jackie is a Wisconsin native who grew up surrounded by music. A Wisconsin native, Allen was introduced to music by her father, Louis (Gene) Allen, a Dixieland tuba player who taught each of his five children to play a brass instrument (young Jackie's first instrument was the French horn). She attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison as music major, studying under the venerated Professor of Bass and Jazz History Richard Davis, himself a prominent artist on 1960's Blue Note recordings.

 

Source: http://jackieallen.com/