Ben Allison is a popular guest at the North Sea Jazz Festival andmay rightly be termed one of the major young jazz musicians of the day. In 2005, he won the Paul Acket Award 'Artist Deserving Wider Recognition'. As a bassist, band leader and composer, he unites different talents and because of that he is able to explore his preference for approaching all aspects of jazz as a single whole. He tours with greatly varying line-ups like Peace Pipe and Medicine Wheel and at the festival this year he is performing with
Man Size Safe. He calls this line-up his 'Americana' band. It allows him the opportunity to link up American rock history with contemporary jazz and to thus forge a balance between cohesive compositions and modern improvisations. His musical views are very lively and this is reflected in his dynamic playing. He feels perfectly at home in avant-garde music but can just as easily play straight forward jazz.
