Marker in Downtown Houston commemorating the foundation of Houston by the Allen Brothers - An excerpt from the Telegraph & Texas Register dated August 30, 1836 is visible.

John Kirby Allen (1810–1838) was born in Canasareaugh, near Syracuse in the U.S. state of New York. He, along with his older brother, Augustus Chapman Allen, founded Houston, Texas in 1836. John Kirby Allen was never married. He died of congestive fever on August 15, 1838, and was buried at Founders Cemetery in Houston.

Early years[link]

When he was seven years old, John took his first job, as a bellboy in a hotel in Orrville. Three years later, he started working as a clerk in a retail shop. At sixteen, he formed a partnership with a friend operating a hat store at Chittenango, New York, where his brother, Augustus Chapman Allen, was professor of mathematics. In 1827, John cashed in his interest in the hat store and followed his brother to New York City, where they were investors in H. and H. Canfield Company until 1832. The brothers then moved to Texas.^[1]

In Texas[link]

The Allen brothers arrived first in Galveston, Texas and then moved to the small town of Saint Augustine. In 1833, John Allen and his brother associated with a group of entrepreneurs in Nacogdoches and started operating a business as land speculators.^[2]

During the Texas Revolution[link]

Instead of joining the army when the Texas War of Independence started, John and his brother engaged in the business of keeping supply channels open. At their own expense they outfitted a ship, the Brutus, for the purpose of protecting the Texas coast and assisting troops and supplies from the United States to arrive safely in Texas^[1]

Nevertheless, some members of the Texas provisional government objected to the Allen brothers' activities, and there were rumors that they were engaged in privateering. In January 1836, they sold the Brutus to the Texas Navy, and it became only the second ship in the fledgling Texas navy.^[2] John and Augustus Allen continued to raise money and operate as receivers and dispensers of supplies and funds for the war effort without charge. In spite of the brothers' services, gossip and censure were aimed at the Allens because they were not in the armed services.^[1]

In politics[link]

In September 1836, after the Texas Revolution, John Allen was elected as a representative from Nacogdoches to the Republic of Texas Congress. There, he served on the president's staff with the rank of major. It was during this political service that John and his brother Augustus founded the city of Houston. He also continued to operate a shipping business during this time, along with his partner, James Pinckney Henderson.^[1]

In Congress, John Allen successfully lobbied to have the newly founded city of Houston named as the capital of the Republic. This gave Houston the boast it needed to survive its first years of initial development.^[2]

Legacy[link]

Several Houston landmarks, including Allen Parkway, Allen Center as well as Allen's Landing Park, immortalize the name of the city's founders. In addition, Kirby Drive, which connects to Allen Parkway, is also named after John Kirby Allen. Allen's descendants are spread throughout the United States. The vast majority of his remaining family lives in Arlington Texas, under the name of Wingard.^{[citation needed]}

He is buried at Founder's Cemetery.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

Houston portal

• Founders Memorial Park at The Political Graveyard
• Gravesite of John Kirby Allen at Texas Heritage Society

John Kirby (or Kirkby) may refer to:

• John Kirby (Canadian politician) (1772–1846), Canadian businessman & politician
• John Kirby (musician) (1908–1952), American jazz musician
• John Kirby (bishop) (born 1938), Irish bishop
• John Kirby (footballer), Irish footballer
• John Kirby (attorney), American lawyer
• John Kirby (topographer) (1690–1753), English mapmaker and illustrator
• John Henry Kirby (1860–1940), American businessman
• John Kirkby (died 1290), English ecclesiastic and statesman
• John Kirby (baseball) (1865–1931), baseball player
• John Kirby (American football) (born 1942), American football player
• John Joshua Kirby (1716–1774), British landscape painter, engraver, and writer

See also[link]

• John Kirby Allen (1810–1838), American pioneer
• Geoffrey John Kirkby (1918–1998), British Royal Navy officer
• Jack Kirby (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Red Allen
Henry "Red" Allen at Onyx, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1946 Photo: William P. Gottlieb
Background information
Birth name	Henry James Allen
Also known as	"Red"
Born	January 7, 1906 Algiers, Louisiana, United States
Died	April 17, 1967 New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Trumpeter
Instruments	Trumpet
Years active	1924–1967
Associated acts	King Oliver, Clarence Williams, Steve Lacy

Henry James "Red" Allen (January 7, 1906 – April 17, 1967) was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.

Life and career[link]

Henry James "Red" Allen was born in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of bandleader Henry Allen. He took early trumpet lessons from Peter Bocage and Manuel Manetta.

Allen's career began in Sidney Desvigne's Southern Syncopators. He was playing professionally by 1924 with the Excelsior Brass Band and the jazz dance bands of Sam Morgan, George Lewis and John Casimir. After playing on riverboats on the Mississippi River he went to Chicago in 1927 to join King Oliver's band. Around this time he made recordings on the side in the band of Clarence Williams. After returning briefly to New Orleans, where he worked with the bands of Fate Marable and Fats Pichon, he was offered a recording contract with Victor Records and returned to New York City, where he also joined the Luis Russell band, which was later fronted by Louis Armstrong in the late 1930s.^[1]

In 1929 Allen joined Luis Russell's Orchestra where he was a featured soloist until 1932. Allen took part in recording sessions that year organized by Eddie Condon, some of which featured Fats Waller and/or Tommy Dorsey. He also made a series of recordings in late 1931 with Don Redman, and in 1933 he joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra where he stayed until 1934. He played with Lucky Millinder's Mills Blue Rhythm Band from 1934 to 1937, when he returned to Luis Russell for three more years by the time Russell's orchestra was fronted by Louis Armstrong. Allen very seldom received any solo space on recordings with Armstrong, but was prominently featured at the band's personal appearances, even getting billing as a featured attraction.

As a bandleader, Allen recorded for Victor from 1929 through 1930. He made a series of recordings as co-leader with Coleman Hawkins in 1933 for ARC (Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, etc.) and continued on as an ARC recording artist through 1935, when he was moved over to ARC's Vocalion label for a popular series of swing records from 1935 through late 1937. A number of these were quite popular at the time. He did a solitary session for Decca in 1940 and two sessions for OKeh in 1941. After World War II, he recorded for Brunswick in 1944, Victor in 1946, and Apollo in 1947.

Allen continued making many recordings under his own name, as well as recording with Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton, and accompanying such vocalists as Victoria Spivey and Billie Holiday. After a short stint with Benny Goodman, Allen started leading his own band at The Famous Door in Manhattan. He then toured with the band around the USA into the late 1950s.

In December 1957, Red Allen made an appearance on the "Sound Of Jazz" television show. In 1959 Allen made his first tour of Europe when he joined Kid Ory's band. From 1954 until the club ceased its jazz policy in 1965, Allen led the house band at New York's Metropole Cafe.

Death[link]

Allen returned to working under his own name making numerous tours of the United States and Europe. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late 1966, and after undergoing surgery, made a final tour of England ending six weeks before his death on April 17, 1967 in New York City. He left behind his widow, Pearly May, and a son, Henry Allen III.

Style and influence[link]

Red Allen's trumpet style has been described, by some critics, as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong and to develop an emphasis on phrasing.^[2] Allen's recordings received much favorable attention. His versatility is shown by his winning of Down Beat awards in both the traditional jazz and the modern jazz categories.

Discography[link]

• World on a String (originally "Ride, Red, Ride in Hi-Fi")
• The College Concert with Pee Wee Russell (Impulse!, 1966)
• Jazz Standards and Warhorses, with Coleman Hawkins, (Jass Records, CD version 1987)
• 1929-1933 (Chronological Classics 540, 1990)

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Henry "Red" Allen

• Red Hot Jazz site website

Further reading[link]

• Ride, Red, Ride - The Life of Henry "Red" Allen by John Chilton, Continuum, 1999. ISBN 0-304-70407-5

Tab Smith

Talmadge "Tab" Smith (January 11, 1909 – August 17, 1971),^[1] was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist. He is best known for the tracks, "Because Of You" and "Pretend". He variously worked with Count Basie, the Mills Rhythm Boys and Lucky Millinder.^[1]

Biography[link]

Smith was born in Kinston, North Carolina, United States.^[1] He joined his first professional band, the Carolina Stompers, in 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s he spent several years in the bands of Lucky Millinder and Count Basie,^[2] as well as spending long periods freelancing both as a player and as an arranger. After the Second World War he led his own groups, which concentrated on rhythm and blues as jazz turned from swing to bop.

His biggest R&B hit was "Because of You", which reached number 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart, and number 20 on the pop chart, in 1951. "Because of You" was made for United Records, a label for which Smith recorded prolifically until it closed in 1957.^[3] Tab Smith put out 24 singles and a 10-inch album for the label. On his United sides, Smith sometimes played tenor saxophone.

During the 1950s, Smith was a significant rival to alto saxophone-playing bandleader Earl Bostic, who recorded for King. He was also in competition with his own formative influence, Johnny Hodges, until Hodges returned to the Duke Ellington band.

His career never recovered from the closure of United Records. After brief stays at Checker and King, Smith retired from the music business in the early 1960s. He sold real estate and played piano part-time in a steakhouse.

He died in St. Louis, Missouri, in August 1971, aged 62.^[1]

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

John James Chilton (born 16 July 1932 in London, England) is a British jazz trumpeter and writer. During the 1960s he also worked with pop bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts.

He was born in London to working-class parents (his father was a musical hall comedian) and was evacuated to Northamptonshire, where he began playing the cornet at the age of 12. He switched to trumpet at 17 and after doing national service in the RAF (1950–1952) he formed his own jazz band, playing at Butlins^[1] in Skegness with a troupe that included comedian Dave Allen.

He worked in Bruce Turner's Jump Band^[1] from 1958-1963. A movie of their exploits called Living Jazz was made in 1961 by director Jack Gold. Chilton later appeared in Alex Welsh's Big Band. He played piano on some pop recordings in the 1960s while also working for Mike Daniels' Big Band. In the late 1960s he formed his own Swing Kings band which backed some leading American jazzmen who toured Britain, including Buck Clayton, Ben Webster, Bill Coleman and Charlie Shavers. He also recorded The Song of a Road, one of the radio ballads of folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in the 1950s for the BBC.

He later worked with Wally Fawkes, also known as the cartoonist 'Trog',^[2] and in January 1974 formed John Chilton's Feetwarmers, who began accompanying British jazz singer and writer George Melly.^[3] Together they made records and toured the world for nearly 30 years including trips to America, Australia, China and New Zealand. In 1983 and 1984 they had their own BBC television series called Good Time George. They appeared on countless other TV shows, including Parkinson, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Aspel, This is Your Life and Pebble Mill at One.

Chilton is also a songwriter and composer and one of his songs, "Give Her A Little Drop More", was used in the 1985 film St Elmo's Fire, sung by the Hollywood Brat Pack including Demi Moore and Rob Lowe.

Chilton is one of the few European writers to win a Grammy award for his album notes on Bunny Berigan (1983) and was runner-up for a further Grammy award in 2000. In the same year he won the British Jazz Award for 'Writer of the Year'. His Who's Who of Jazz was described by the poet Philip Larkin as "one of the essential jazz books". His books on Coleman Hawkins and Louis Jordan have both won for Chilton the prestigious American Association for Recorded Sound Collections' Award for Historical Recorded Sound Research. Jazz magazine Down Beat called him "a master of the craft of research". The Jazz Rag recently described Chilton as "one of the world's top jazz writers". For his books on Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong he was given the freedom of New Orleans.

In March 2007, Northway Books published his autobiography, Hot Jazz, Warm Feet. John Chilton continues to play trumpet with the clarinetist Wally Fawkes in London.

Bibliography[link]

• Louis: The Louis Armstrong Story (with Max Jones)
• Ride Red Ride - the Life of Henry 'Red' Allen
• Roy Eldridge, Little Jazz Giant^[4]
• McKinney's Music - A bio-discography of McKinney's Cotton Pickers
• A Jazz Nursery - The Story of Jenkins' Orphanage Band
• Teach Yourself Jazz
• Stomp Off, Let's Go: The Story of Bob Crosby's Bob Cats
• Who's Who of Jazz
• Let the Good Times Roll: The Story of Louis Jordan
• Billie's Blues - A survey of Billie Holiday's Career
• The Song of the Hawk - The Life and Recordings of Coleman Hawkins
• Sidney Bechet - the Wizard of Jazz
• Who's Who of British Jazz

Autobiography[link]

• Hot Jazz, Warm Feet. London: Northway Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9550908-3-7. 

Discography[link]

• Nuts (1972)
• Son of Nuts (1973)
• It's George (1974)
• Making Whoopee (1982)
• Best of Live (1995)
• Anything Goes (1996)
• Goodtime George
• The Ultimate Melly, including guest Van Morrison (2006)

References[link]