Antidotes

About The Music

Welcome to the group Antidotes. The collection of music I have written and arranged for this particular group is the culmination of my many musical experiences playing with so many incredible players over my 50-year career. The first, most memorable experience was back in 1976-77 when I was a part of a group called The Blue Note Band led by pianist Rob Schneiderman (Reservoir Recording artist). Rob would write and arrange music for 3-4 horns and we would perform occasionally at the Blue Parrot in San Diego. I was 18 at the time. Rob wrote great tunes and the players were outstanding local musicians. At that time, San Diego had a fertile jazz scene with players like Mike Wofford, Butch Lacy, Hollis Gentry, Peter and Tripp Sprague, Charles McPhearson, Randy Porter, Jeff Rew, Jim Plank, and Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham, educating me nightly. I was out listening in the clubs so much it’s a miracle that I graduated from high school.

Nonetheless, I did graduate and ended going to Boston in 1978 to attend the Berklee College of Music. There I was exposed to many great musicians. I would also travel down to New York periodically to hear folks like Dexter Gordon, Woody Shaw, Hank Jones, Buster Williams, Billy Higgins, Claudio Roditi, the Brecker Brothers, Brian Lynch, and so many more… . This was the best education a young jazz player could imagine or receive.

From there, my musical path led to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I had the opportunity to play with Mark Levine, and the great Latin pianist Carlos Federico. Here I was exposed to Latin music for the first time. I also started my own music company, M.U.S.E. (Musical Understanding thru Sound Education), which allowed me to make a decent living and have time to play and to write the music that moved me. 

In 1994 I moved to Portland, Oregon, which has served as my base ever since. Again, I found another great music community (which makes up for the rain). These are the places and people that greatly influenced me and made me the musician I am. I am so grateful to have had such a wonderful life playing music with people I love and care about.

During the pandemic, I had a two-year period of isolation that I can only describe as dark. Like all of us, I wasn’t sure how we were going to get  through and out of it. Then, one day I stumbled onto Chick Corea playing “live” online.

I’ve always loved Chick’s music and throughout the pandemic he would come on Facebook every morning from his music studio and sit at the piano (after he warmed up on his drum set) and begin to “shed” on tunes -- a variety of tunes from classical music, jazz, his originals, and standards. He would talk through it as he worked out particular sections. These were very in-depth and personal insights to how he approached composing and playing his music. I learned a lot about the mental aspects of playing. He would say things like “there are no wrong notes, be playful and curious, be yourself, and don’t compare yourself to others”. Those were very powerful words and it inspired me to do a lot of soul searching about my own music.

Many of the tunes we play in this group are my originals from that two-year time period, sprinkled with great classic Blue Note-era standards arranged for the band. My tunes embody the sounds I heard in San Diego, Boston, New York and San Francisco and carry within them the souls of my associates from the past and present. Music is my life and the creative process is very personal. I’ve had a few of my close musician friends say, when hearing one of my tunes for the first time, “Yep, that’s Bryant Allard.” This is the highest accolade I could ever imagine. I don’t pretend to be anyone other than myself and I’m glad when the music comes off that way.

I hope you can come out and hear us at some point soon. We are looking to record this group in the spring of 2025.