The quest? To go beyond diversity and variety. Learning how we each are different is just a start; Lee is seeking how we are the same. And it shows in his music.

The goal? Bring out the best of every music. 'The most important quality of a good arranger is insight', says Allen. 'You've got to size up the song as though it were a person - it actually is somebody's baby, you know.' Bring out the key strengths of the song, apply insight, look at the song a new way - the result is an arrangement that speaks directly to the listener's heart.

Insight, in this case, has been gained from a varied playing history that started when Lee began playing Memphis nightclubs at the age of (don't tell!) in the late 's. Lee later helped introduce a gospel choir to the MIT campus (and also held the pianist slot in the university's A-list jazz band for four years), arranged for pop and contemporary Christian singers during the ' 's and ' 's, and organized music programs in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Silicon Valley, California. One summer job during college consisted of organizing friends into a band and touring Mississippi with soul legends Ollie Nightingale and an artist known only as "Big Daddy". Twenty days after the end of the tour, Lee was back in Boston, playing under the direction of Herb Pomeroy of the Berklee School of Music.

Lee does not use any high-minded labels for his work. 'It's just pop,' Lee says. 'But I believe that pop music is very important because it is the prime indicator of where the general population stands musically at any given time.'

'Music is a language of feelings and emotions. So, when I arrange or compose, I imagine 'the listener' saying 'I am opening a door to my feelings, don't abuse my trust'. I understand that everybody likes a wild ride now and then, but I leave that music for others to make'.

Lee seeks the themes that unify us and inspire us, that build us up. And it shows in his music.

***

Since the late 's, Lee has played gigs as a 'solo jazz trio', thanks to music technology and extensive preparation. Although only a single person (like most of us), Lee provides the realistic sound of a three- to five-piece jazz/pop ensemble. Lee pre-plays the bass parts and composes the drum parts from scratch according to his original arrangements (for those of you into music technology, no 'loops' or stock MIDI clips are used).

Lee has used this technique for over twenty years, at restaurants, receptions, corporate parties and private parties -- for example, Lee performed jazz-trio music at Ray's Ristorante in Atlanta's Lenox Square for eighteen months with excellent response from the owners and customers, and August is Lee's th consecutive month at Faz Restaurant in Sunnyvale, California.

For Lee, the technology is at its best when it is invisible and simply providing a great listening experience. The accompanying demo songs illustrate Lee's approach to arranging: familiar melodies seen a new way, while preserving the feelings originally intended when the song was born.

Lee is currently performing on Monday and Friday nights at Faz Restaurant, part of the Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel. A small portion of other places at which Lee has performed:
* AP Stump's, San Jose
* Brookhaven Country Club, Atlanta
* Byington Winery, Los Gatos
* Cafe' Milan, Atlanta (six months)
* Colony Square Hotel Crown Room, Atlanta
* Doubletree Hotel, Atlanta
* Faz Restaurant, Sunnyvale CA
* Florentina Restaurant, Cambridge MA
* Georgia World Congress Center
* HS Lordship's, Berkeley
* Marriott Marquis, Atlanta
* Metropolitan Golf and Racquet Club, Atlanta
* Ray's Ristorante, Atlanta ( / years)
* San Mateo CA Public Library
* Sonoma Chicken Coop, Campbell CA
* Super Steer Steak House, Dos Palos, CA
* Tarragon Restaurant, Sunnyvale CA

Lee's technique and capabilities make for extremely competitive pricing for events requiring background music, such as receptions and dinners.

For more information, please contact Lee Allen using the information above.