Allen Eager (1927–2003)
Allen Eager was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist who later in his life also competed in motor racing and other sports.
Eager was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. He was a precocious child, able to read aged 3, who began clarinet lessons aged 13 and joined the Woody Herman band at just 15.
He played in other big bands including Tommy Dorsey’s. Like many tenor players of the era, he was a disciple of Lester Young. After World War II he became a regular on the scene around 52nd Street in New York where many famous jazz clubs were located. Eager also adopted the musical forms pioneered in bebop. Unusually for a white saxophonist of the time, Eager was a member of several bands led by black musicians, including Coleman Hawkins and beboppers Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker.
After playing and recording with Gerry Mulligan and spending time in Paris, he essentially retired from jazz. Eager mentioned the death of Charlie Parker and his own problems with drug addiction as reasons for his withdrawal from the jazz scene. Eager went on to pursue other activities including long-distance motor racing. Following some initially success, Eager was involved in several accidents that resulted in serious injuries.
He occasionally returned to music again, playing alto sax with Charles Mingus at the Newport Jazz Festival. Later in his playing career, Eager toured with Dizzy Gillespie and Chet Baker.
Biography by Mike Rose
One of the enigmas of jazz
This article is a biography of the American tenor saxophonist, Allen Eager. During his early career, he played with many great jazz artists, but his drug addiction hampered his progress. His involvement with motor racing and other outdoor sports appears to have been a means of escape from his drug habit.
Allen Eager
Image Details
| Interview date | 1st January 0001 |
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| Interview source | Jazz Professional |
| Image source credit | |
| Image source URL | |
| Reference number | |
| Forename | Allen |
| Surname | Eager |
| Quantity | 1 |
Interview Transcription
Allen Eager was born in New York on 10th January, 1927 and died in Florida on April 13th, 2003.
He began studying clarinet in his early teens,and in 1943 received lessons on tenor saxophone from Ben Webster. After changing to saxophone he worked with Bobby Sherwood, Sonny Dunham, Shorty Sherock, and Hal Mclntyre. Eager later joined Woody Herman and in 1945 worked with Tommy Dorsey and Johnny Bothwell.
He performed in clubs on 52nd Street, New York, with Barney Kessel, Zoot Sims, Sid Catlett and Shelly Manne in Los Angeles and made a number of recordings with his own groups from 1946 to 1948. Among those he worked with around this period were Coleman Hawkins, Pete Brown, Red Rodney, Stan Levy, Max Roach, Al Haig, Serge Chaloff and Charlie Parker, as well as recording with Fats Navarro, Wardell Gray and Ernie Henry as a member of Tad Dameron's band, at the time resident at the Royal Roost on Broadway.
Allen Eager had a sound on the tenor saxophone similar to his contemporaries, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn and Brew Moore, all of whom had been greatly influenced by Lester Young. In the 1950s he made occasional recordings with Gerry Mulligan and Terry Gibbs and worked with Buddy Rich.
Eager's personality was an enigma to many of his friends and colleagues. He occasionally abandoned his musical career for his hobbies of skiing, horse riding, and motor racing, eventually settling in Paris in 1956, where he began to play alto saxophone. In 1957 he ceased full-time performing once more, but resumed his career in 1982, when he toured Europe and recorded with his own group.
Some of Eager’s best performances can be heard on Brothers and Other Mothers—recorded in July 1947 with Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn and Serge Chaloff, all of whom had been members of the Woody HermanFour Brothers sax section, together with the Other Mothers Brew Moore and Allen Eager.
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