Remembering Tony Allen

Tony Allen with Geoff Shell backstage at SOB’s in New York City, 2014

Tony Allen, the man who pioneered Afrobeat with Fela Kuti, has sadly passed away. I am grateful to have had numerous opportunities to perform, record and hang out with such an infectiously cool human being.

I'll never forget how scared I was playing my first show with Tony Allen and Chicago Afrobeat Project at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis in 2013. I could not stop thinking about how rhythmically advanced Tony was and I was truly scared, more than I ever have been in my life, of losing where "1" is during a performance.

As a bass player playing Afrobeat, particularly when things are at their most polyrhythmic, sometimes it's a little scary. You want nothing more than to stay in the pocket and hold the entire band together no matter what happens, but every once in a while you still might hear something rhythmically backwards, upside down or displaced while playing your part. You then focus on your part even more intensely and sometimes there is just nothing else to rely on except your own time.

The level of focus I put into that first performance at the Cedar completely changed me. I owned my parts and triumphantly did not lose the beat. I listened closer to what was going on around me than I ever have before. I let Tony do his thing while remaining unintimidated by his rhythmic genius. I made it through that show at it felt like a real milestone.

We had already spent a few days together, had done some rehearsals and hung out. I was excited to get a photo with Tony like everyone else, but I remember I couldn't bring myself to ask him until I made it through that first show. And I was so happy about the music we made as a band that night. It wasn't our best performance and there were plenty of rough spots, but it was the first of many and it was the beginning of a new chapter for my own musicianship and overall confidence. I took a super happy photo with Tony back stage, and he began talking to me about what we just did together as bassist and drummer.

Geoff Shell with Tony Allen backstage at The Cedar, Minneapolis, 2013

"We create a pillar," he said to me, talking about the super strong foundation the drums and bass create in Afrobeat so everyone else can float on top. The experience of playing this music with the grand master and learning about my own time through each successive show was just so enlightening. It started with having enough confidence and focus to nail that first show, and Tony was filled with knowledge whether it was coming from him verbally or musically.

So many highlights over the course of 2013-2014 playing with Chicago Afrobeat Project featuring Tony Allen. We recorded the album "What Goes Up," played numerous times in our hometown, toured the east coast, evaluated which was the better-- the new Jay-Z or Kanye record (I remember we were both more favorable of Jay-Z), drank scotch, smoked spliffs and had an abundance of joy hanging out with the entire band on the road.

The most surreal of experiences for me happened in Ithaca, New York when we had stopped by Cornell University so Tony could deliver a master class on Afrobeat. The Ivy League research university had just unveiled a new library of Afrobeat records and was celebrating Tony Allen's pioneering work. This was the only time on the tour I was actually an audience member, and I'll never forget sitting there listening to him explain how he came up with the beats and actively engaged all of his limbs. I just couldn't believe I was playing with someone who was being so academically appreciated. We played a killer show at The Haunt that night.

Tony changed my life in a lot of ways. It wasn't even direct. It was just the experience of being with him. He had so much experience and was such a bad-ass musician. He challenged me in ways I'd never been challenged before, and it made me a better bass player, a better musician and a better person.

It started with creating "a pillar" and getting through my self doubt when we played our first show together. Deeper into our time together, I can proudly say I was Tony's "swinging bass playing motherfucker" as he said to me with a high-five when greeting each other at one of our later shows. Those words meant the world to me and solidified my musical existence in a very personal way.

My time as a bass player is forever remembered as the time before I played with Tony Allen and the time after. His career is remarkable. Listen to Tony Allen and may his memory be for a blessing.