Early life Allen was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was raised in
McFarland, a suburb of
Madison. She grew up in a musical family. Her father was a
Dixieland tuba player and her siblings played brass instruments. Allen played French horn. She studied singing and jazz at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, then moved back to Milwaukee, where she performed with
Melvin Rhyne.
Musical career Four years later she moved to Chicago and made her first album,
Never Let Me Go (1994), for the Lake Shore Jazz record label. Her sidemen were pianist Brad Williams, saxophonist Edward Petersen, and bassist
Larry Gray. She got to know pianist
Judy Roberts, and they eventually made two albums together,
Santa Baby and
Autumn Leaves. Producer Ralph Jungheim brought Allen to Los Angeles to record
Which with first-call musicians including
Red Holloway,
Gary Foster, and
Bill Cunliffe, who served as the musical director for the recording. The project was successful and the label sent Jackie and her group on an Asian tour, including an appearance as the first jazz artists to perform at the Beijing Music Festival. In 1999 she began performing in a duo with Hans Sturm. They performed at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe where
Frank Proto heard them and invited them to record for his Red Mark label. Dave Nathan wrote of the recording for the All Music Guide "This album ups the ante for voice/bass combination. It demands serious and committed listening.
Landscapes: Bass Meets Voice will leave most breathless." Since 2002 Allen has performed and recorded primarily with an ensemble that includes John Moulder (guitar), Dane Richeson(percussion), and Hans Sturm (bass) with the addition of either Ben Lewis,
Laurence Hobgood, or Tom Larson (keyboards),
Orbert Davis or Tito Carillo (trumpets), and Steve Eisen (woodwinds). She produced
The Men in My Life with Eric Hochberg and it was picked up by the Chicago label A440 in 2003. The label signed her to do an additional recording,
Love Is Blue, produced by
Rob Mathes and released the following year. After the A440 label folded, she signed with
Blue Note Records and working with Eric Hochberg once again, released
Tangled (2006). She was dropped from the label after EMI/Blue Note was sold in 2007 to Terra Firma. In 2008 Allen was approached by the
Muncie Symphony Orchestra in
Indiana to create a project for their 60th Anniversary Season. The result was the 2009 live album
Starry Night that features Allen's band with the symphony in a program of star-themed tunes arranged by
John Clayton,
Frank Proto,
Bill Cunliffe,
Mark Buselli, and Matt Harris. After moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in 2011, Allen has continued to tour and record for the small Avant Bass label.
My Favorite Color (2014), a collection of new and old standards, was her first studio release since
Tangled. Christopher Loudon, writing for Jazz Times remarked "Eight years’ absence from the recording studio has done nothing to diminish Jackie Allen’s allure. The voice-dusky, mellow and wise, is as spellbinding as ever." In 2017 she released
Rose Fingered Dawn, set of original songs written for her by Hans Sturm, to critical acclaim. John McDonough wrote in Downbeat Magazine that Jackie "showcases a polished virtuosity...a shimmering paradigm of stylish and sophisticated jazz singing."
Teaching career Allen began teaching in Milwaukee at the
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in 1989 and stayed on the faculty until 1992. In 1991
David Bloom hired her to teach at the Bloom School of Jazz in Chicago where she stayed for two years. For 12 years she taught at the
Old Town School of Folk Music.
Elmhurst College invited Allen to join their faculty in 2002, and she stayed there until 2005 when
Roosevelt University offered her a position. She taught at Roosevelt until 2008 and then taught private jazz vocal lessons and songwriting at
Ball State University, The Cornerstone Center for the Arts, and the E. B. Ball Center in Indiana. In 2011 she moved to Nebraska and taught at
Doane University and the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Allen also taught a torch-singing class as a community outreach project, helping small groups of adult students learn to sing in public. ==Discography==