Allen Holmes was born March 26th, 1969 in Fairfax, Virginia. At age 5, he began playing piano and as a teen played piano and trombone in a jazz big band. Allen taught himself harmonica. He studied with Phil Wiggins and Charlie Sayles at the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia. Allen specialized in playing the diatonic harmonica chromatically after participating in the 1998 Chapel Harmonica Summit with Howard Levy. More recently, Allen has studied traditional blues harmonica styles. He has recorded original music in this vein and draws upon chords and doublestops.
Allen has been a performer, arranger, and instructor at festivals since 1998 including the SPAH and Buckeye harmonica festivals. He released a recording of jazz standards called Doris in Mind in 1999 which features the vocals of Alison Radcliffe. Allen now plays the stand-up bass, harmonica, and sings simultaneously as a one man band playing blues, jazz, and gospel. He continues to play with Alison Radcliffe and can be heard at various venues locally in the Washington DC area as well as across the country.
Allen & Alison are available for concerts and performances including house concerts, music festivals, church services, and harmonica/vocal workshops and classes. For booking and more information, please email [email protected].
Allen plays Marine Band harmonicas customized by Joe Filisko, Richard Sleigh and James Gordon; Hohner prewar 16 hole chromatic harmonica customized by Michael Easton; and a Hohner bass harmonica customized by Dick Gardner. Plain MySpace Layouts by Iron Spider
