When Harry Allen was a sideman for drummer Oliver Jackson on long European tours, Jackson introduced the up-and-coming tenor saxophonist to the local promoter in every city they played. “He would say, ‘Remember this name, you’re going to want him,’” Allen recalls. Thirty years later, some of the same people book Allen regularly.

Now an internationally acclaimed jazz artist, Harry Allen swings into town with his quartet to play the Kerrytown Concert House on Wednesday, March 1. They will perform audience favorites from the Great American Songbook as well as a few new songs Allen recently wrote. Joining him on this date are Chicago-based guitarist Andy Brown and Ann Arbor veterans Paul Keller, bass, and Pete Siers, drums.

Keller, who has played with Allen at festivals and concerts since 1998, says Allen is on his short list of all-time favorite jazz musicians. “It's impossible not to hear that Harry is a very special musician,” Keller notes, comparing him to Stan Getz, Lester Young, Zoot Sims, and Scott Hamilton. “Harry plays music that listeners can easily understand and connect with. At the same time, his artistry is undeniable. Harry stretches and twists the traditional jazz language in witty and clever ways, never harming the song or the groove, but elevating the music to the realm of rarefied air. His incredible improvised solos are like a faucet, gushing endless jazz vocabulary, and infused with wit, empathy, and soul.”

Allen discovered jazz early on. The son of a big band drummer who left the business to become an engineer, Allen grew up enjoying the music of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Benny Goodman, and other greats. He played the accordion when he was 7, tried the clarinet for a time, and found his way to the tenor sax when he was twelve. “I was doing gigs as early as 12 or 13, maybe even before that,” he says, adding that his career really began when he moved to New Jersey to go to school, and he started hanging around New York clubs.

After graduating from Rutgers in 1988, Allen performed at jazz festivals and clubs throughout the world with Jackson; later, he appeared with Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Flip Phillips, Scott Hamilton, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gus Johnson, Jeff Hamilton, Terry Gibbs, and Warren Vache.

Among those he has recorded with are Tony Bennett, Johnny Mandel, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Barron, Dave McKenna, Dori Caymmi, Larry Goldings, George Mraz, Jake Hanna, and Al Foster, and Freddy Cole.

"Harry Allen’s playing is nothing less than perfect," says guitarist John Pizzarelli. Allen is featured on many of Pizzarelli's recordings, including the soundtrack of The Out-of-Towners. You may have seen his on-screen cameo for that Steve Martin-Goldie Hawn movie or heard him play in Robert Goulet’s commercials for ESPN.

Allen recorded for BNG, a major label in Japan, which he says made it possible for him “to record with a lot of famous people and do interesting projects” including working with a string orchestra.

“The business has certainly changed,” Allen reflects. “One big thing, when I first started my career, it was run by the major record companies. That was a good thing and a bad thing,” he says, explaining that a major record company could put money behind an artist, ensuring he would get gigs at the big clubs; on the other hand, without that backing, it was next to impossible. Today, with internet distribution and the demise of big jazz labels, clubs hire artists “the crowd wants to see.”

Now a recording artist with the Japanese label Swing Brothers, Allen has over 30 recordings out. Three have won Gold Disc Awards from Japan's Swing Journal Magazine, and his CD Tenors Anyone? was also recognized with the Gold Disc Award and the New Star Award. His CDs have made the top 10 list for favorite new releases in Swing Journal Magazine's reader's poll and Jazz Journal International's critic's poll. The list goes on.

Critics explain why audiences welcome Harry Allen everywhere. Martin Gayford of The Daily Telegraph in London admires his "Rhythmic edge and endless flow of ideas.” Eddie Cook, writing in Jazz Journal, says he is “endlessly inventive and with a flood of original ideas...his tone and execution are always superb." C. Michael Bailey of All About Jazz called him “the Frank Sinatra of the tenor saxophone: a master interpreter of standards."

And critic Gene Lees recalled that when Stan Getz was asked his idea of the perfect tenor saxophone soloist, his answer was “'My technique, Al Cohn's ideas, and Zoot's time.’” Added Lees, “The fulfillment of that ideal may well be embodied in Harry Allen.”

Just take a listen.

Davi Napoleon is a writer, critic, and theater historian.

Harry Allen plays Kerrytown Concert House on Wednesday, March 1, at 8 pm. For tickets and more info, visit kerrytownconcerthouse.com.