TICKETS are $20 General/$10 Student.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Philanthropic Services provided by grants from the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust, The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation, the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County's ArtsEverywhere initiative, and the Arts Project Support Grant and Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.

Aimée Allen Trio: Strings and C(h)ords with Tony Romano and François Moutin

Vocalist and acclaimed songwriter Aimée Allen returns to Merrimans' Playhouse with this ultra dynamic trio featuring master musicians guitarist Tony Romano and bassist Francois Moutin. With a repertoire rooted in her soulful, compelling original music, but also including selections from multiple eras of the jazz cannon, Aimée will deliver a rich, exciting set featuring song poetry and lively improvisation. These three are more than the sum of their parts.

Aimée's latest release Love and the Catalyst was nominated for a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Vocal Album.  Her compositions from the project have also been shortlisted for the 2022 International Songwriting Competition. 

Video link:

Night Owl: https://youtu.be/51x8dUhLn68

www.aimeeallenmusic.com www.facebook.com/aimeemarieallen

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Spotify

“A fully fledged composer, lyricist and vocalist, her ideas are filled with depth and meaning and her lyrics profoundly unique.” - Constance Tucker, All About Vocals

"Allen's originals command attention." - Scott Yanow, Downbeat (4 Star Review)

“Allen will mesmerize you with her voice and style. Wings Uncaged is a vastly different experience than the standard vocal jazz fare, that offers depth and reverence, while pushing the idiom forward." - Steph Cosme, Staccotofy

“A brilliant singer and even more thoughtful lyricist.” - H. Allen Williams, JazzTimes

Aimée Allen brings her trademark soulful originals and lyricism to life with world-renowned bassist François Moutin and multi-dimensional guitarist Tony Romano. They make nine strings and two vocal cords sound like much more, with rich sonic landscapes and passionate, adventurous explorations of jazz improvisation and musical storytelling. 

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, vocalist Aimée (pronounced emAY, or M.A.) Allen's intimate connection with music began as a child. Her childhood was scored with classic jazz, because her mother kept selections from the tradition on the family turntable. Though singing was a part of her childhood, Aimée first began singing professionally with jazz a cappella groups in college. After graduation, Aimée moved to Paris where she performed regularly in jazz clubs and festivals. The deep relationship between the francophone audiences and Brazilian bossa nova, led Aimée to form Les Bossa Novices, a Paris-based group dedicated to bossa and jazz.

Aimée now performs regularly in New York City and abroad, having toured in France, Italy, Russia, and Senegal. Standards and bossa are part of her repertoire, but now an accomplished songwriter, she also sings her original compositions, many of which have become audience favorites. Her original music has been licensed for feature film and network television. She has sung with many renowned musicians including Romero Lubambo, Ron McClure, François Moutin, Rozwell Rudd, Ari Hoenig, and Yomo Toro.

Aimée’s last album Love and the Catalyst was nominated for a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Vocal Jazz Album. Her prior release Wings Uncaged was named one of Downbeat Magazine’s Best of 2019.

Internationally recognized jazz bass player, François Moutin has toured extensively all over the world, most recently in France and Switzerland with Aimée in mid-March 2020. However, he has toured for years with a trio including Ari Hoenig and Jean-Michel Pilc, and also with a succession of world-renowned bands with his brother Louis Moutin, with the Moutin Reunion Quartet, and more recently the Moutin Factory Quintet. He also has toured with Mike Stern and Rudresh Mahanthappa. From 1988 on, he has toured consistently around the world (performing about 10 tours per year on average) with artists such as Martial Solal, Jean Michel Pilc, Michel Portal, Peter Erskine, Nguyen Le, Randy Brecker, Toots Thielemans, James Moody, Michel Legrand, Lee Konitz, Franck Wess, Ari Hoenig, Mike Stern, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Lew Soloff, Steve Kuhn, Billy Hart, Jeff Tain Watts, Victor Lewis, Dave Liebman, Mulgrew Miller, Harry Belafonte, and Joachim Kuhn, in major venues and festivals in countries on all 5 continents. About a quarter of these tours have been with projects François co-led.

Guitarist Tony Romano has toured extensively throughout the world as both a sideman and as a co-leader, performing at major festivals, concert halls and clubs. Tony started touring in 1994 in Germany and Austria for the Germany based Normal records with singer/songwriter Melissa Lou, then spent 10 years touring with Latin Soul pioneer Joe Bataan. As a co-leader of the Lenny Sendersky-Tony Romano group, he has toured extensively in Russia, Belarus, Israel, Cyprus, and the U.S.