On May 25, 2024, Marshall Allen turned 100 years old. Two days later, he entered Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Soundworks studio to begin recording his debut solo album.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Allen moved to Philadelphia with his father in the late 1930s. At 18, he enlisted in the military and played alto saxophone and clarinet as a member of the 17th Division Special Service Band—part of the 92nd Infantry Division better known as “the Buffalo Soldiers,” the only all-Black unit to serve in Europe during World War II.
