Henry “Red” Allen Jr.

As you may be aware,  PRC’s Ethnic Heritage Preservation program works to identify and preserve the homes of New Orleans’ jazz musicians. We research the lives of the musicians, work to restore the properties where needed, and mark the home’s history with a plaque to inform visitors about the men who lived there.

One such home is Henry “Red” Allen’s birthplace, at 414 Newton Street in Algiers Riverside.

Born in 1908, Red Allen’s father led the popular Allen Brass Band, and taught him about Jazz from an early age. He took up the trumpet and as a teenager he sat in with his father’s band and several others around town before leaving to play his music on a Mississippi riverboat. He’d already had quite a local following, but now gained a wider audience as tourists rode the river between St. Louis and Cincinnati.

His popularity gained him work in New York City, where he cut many albums with his own band as well as playing with the likes of Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Jelly Roll Morton, and, of course, Louis Armstrong. It’s Armstrong Allen is most often compared to, and it’s said that he was the first musician good enough to take what Armstrong had done and improve upon it, taking it one step further.

A little taste of Red Allen in action:

Red Allen worked up until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1966. His childhood home in had fallen into terrible disrepair, and PRC’s Operation Comeback was thrilled to have the opportunity to restore the building and return it to commerce.

The house is now happily occupied, beautifully cared for, and will be there to tell people about Algier’s musical heritage for years to come!