Manny About Town
Eric Allison: Superstar

By Manny Meland

Eric Allison arrived in Miami in 1975. He came here fresh out of high school to pursue a career in music. His sax is his soul.

Eric Allison and Manny Meland

His first gig in Miami was with the Lou Lane band at Ronnie’s Lounge at the Miami Skyways Hotel near the airport. His star quality was quickly recognized. His audiences clamored for his solos. Jazz pianist Billy Marcus came by the club frequently to hear him play. Eventually, they teamed up as the Billy Marcus Orchestra featuring Eric Allison. Jazz still had its supporters in the 1970s and somewhat in the 1980s. Billy and Eric had a great following. Then it seems the young people in America turned away from jazz. They embraced the new music of rock and roll and hip hop. This modern music is about beat and volume. Jazz, with its array of talented musicians, kept playing to smaller and smaller crowds.

Eric continued playing the South Florida music scene with different band combinations. I remember his gigs at the Runway Inn near the airport, the Take One Lounge on LeJeune Road, the Take One North on Collins Avenue, the Holiday Inn in Coral Gables, the Encore Room in Coconut Grove, O’Hare’s on Las Olas Boulevard, and especially, for my wedding reception in our backyard in Pinecrest.

I caught up with Eric a couple of Sundays ago at the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk Jazz Brunch Program. He and the Gold Coast Jazz Society Band were playing the main stage. They wowed the crowd with his rendition of “Perdito”, “Choo Choo Choo Boogie” and other great jazz standards.

Matt Schudel of the Sun-Sentinel reported that “Allison is a powerful soloist on four instruments, a first rate composer and arranger, and a capable band leader who can create a savory stew out of any musical ingredients. His funky, danceable tunes always have one foot in the groove. Allison is a true musician with serious chops.”

The Miami News said, “…a tremendous hunk of entertainment, a fascinating performance by Eric Allison, the reed man…takes the crowd on a goose-pimpling trip. A new kind of high”.

I spoke to Eric during intermission. He said, “I’m sure you know Eddie Higgins, the jazz pianist who spends half a year in Fort Lauderdale and the other half in Cape Cod and whom I often perform with. Eddie has taken me with his band to Japan and Korea for summer tours the last two years. Eddie has never achieved wide popularity in the States, although all the musicians and most of the “in the know” jazz fans dig him. Now in his late 60s, he has become a genuine jazz superstar in Japan (top selling jazz albums and  all) and is becoming one in Korea. I feel as close to being a rock star as I’ll ever get when I go over there with him.  So there is hope for us late bloomers.”