Ever the activist, Aussie ex-pat Allen has been touring for a while now with this fine quartet, badged as ‘The Gene Ammons Project’, building on his enduring respect for the late Chicagoan tenorist. This is Allen’s self-produced souvenir album for this particular endeavour and immensely enjoyable it is. He has something of his hero’s no-messing approach, allied to good body tone and confident projection. I don’t get a sense of conscious replication, rather a heartfelt tribute to an underrated player whose work has always inspired him.

Of the 10 tunes assembled here, all but two were recorded by Ammons in his ‘second coming’ from 1961 through to 1972. He died in 1974 and by then his broad-shouldered approach had become popular with the adherents of soul jazz and it’s this aspect of his playing that prompts the omni-present Ross Stanley to move from piano to Fender Rhodes and onto organ during the final track, ‘Son of a Preacher Man’, with its boogaloo drum patterns. Allen rides roughshod over all this but, if I’m truthful, it’s his playing on the less-mannered material that pleases more. ‘Please Baby Won’t You Please Say Yes? ’ has the right kind of bounce, Stanley comping on piano before Allen sounds out, his stomping solo displaying his facility as well as his awareness of current harmonic ideas, Stanley taking over in crisp fashion. ‘The Breeze and I’ is more languid, a reminder that Ammons was known as a fine player of ballads. Ammons’ own ‘Ger-Ru’ allows Stanley to dig in with the Fender Rhodes, before Allen stresses his fulsome lower register. The oddly-titled ‘I’ve Sold My Heart to the Junkman’ is another excellent stretch out for Allen’s big-toned ballad style, Coltrane and Lockjaw Davis momentarily recalled. So, a nicely balanced array of stormers and softer things. Allen knows what he’s about, that’s for sure.