David Allen / Raquel Salas Rivera / Diane Monroe Work-in-Progress

The work-in-progress performance is an opportunity for the jazz residency artist to present an early draft of their new compositions. The artist performs all the new material they’ve written during the residency for the first time before taking questions and direct feedback from the audience. This input is vital for the artist as they finish writing their project. It's a special BYOB event and tickets are free with a reservation. Can you afford not to come??

David Allen, composer, guitarist, and educator, will “develop a series of jazz compositions that incorporate poetry and spoken-word to tell a story of Philadelphia as a multi-cultural safe-haven” and to “represent the diversity of Philadelphia in both music and language.” This new work is focused on multi-culturalism and the idea of what people think of as "home".  It will explore Philadelphia as a safe-haven and sanctuary city for immigrants and migrants alike. Pulling inspiration from his firsthand experience, Allen is enlisting the help of 2018-19 poet laureate of Philadelphia Raquel Sala Rivera, violinist Diane Monroe, drummer Matt Scarano, and bassist Madison Rast to develop the project and tell the story.

Allen has traveled and lived around the world: growing up in Philadelphia before moving to New York City, and then relocating to Istanbul, Turkey in 2013. In 2016 he moved  his family back to Philadelphia, as they needed a safe environment after the deterioration of the situation in Turkey.  “We were living in Turkey during a very turbulent time and witnessed a military coup first hand.  After witnessing such chaos and hostility, we needed a safe haven where we could begin again and we chose Philadelphia."