Alison Chase Radcliffe and Allen Holmes (Special Event)

Traditional gospel, blues and jazzAllen Holmes has played music most of his life. He began playing piano as a young child and as a teen played an electric rhodes piano and trombone in a jazz big band. He began playing harmonica at age 17. After a few years of playing, he studied harmonica with Phil Wiggins and Charlie Sayles at the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia. Allen specialized in playing the diatonic harmonica chromatically after participating in the 1998 Chapel Harmonica Summit with Howard Levy. More recently, Allen has studied traditional blues harmonica styles. He has begun recording original music in this vein and draws upon chords and doublestops.Allen has been a performer, arranger, and instructor at festivals since 1998 including the SPAH and Buckeye harmonica festivals. He released a recording of jazz standards called Doris in Mind in 1999 which features the vocals of Alison Radcliffe. Allen now plays the stand-up bass, harmonica, and sings simultaneously as a one man band playing blues, jazz, and gospel. He continues to play with Alison Radcliffe and can be heard at various venues locally in the Washington DC area as well as across the country.Alison Chase Radcliffe has been playing music since the age of 4. She has played fiddle and voice in various string bands with her mother throughout childhood. In 1998, she formed a duo with singer/guitarist/bassist David Jackson. They performed at numerous churches, coffee houses, and festivals including the 21st and 22nd annual Washington Folk Festivals, the DC Blues Society Festival, and the 1999 Columbia Pike Blues Festival. For the past 5 years, she has been performing with Allen Holmes at various venues including music festivals across the country. Alison and Allen are featured on a recent compilation entitled Peace and Forgiveness, a benefit for the Archie Edwards Heritage Foundation.Please contact the hosts and let them know if you?ll be coming; they can gauge how many seats to set up.