John E. Allen: keyboards and percussion Dr. John Allen is a pianist and percussionist having studied jazz theory and Afro-Cuban drumming for years. He performs with his band in his spare time while holding down a dental practice near Sacramento, California. This CD was originally recorded for a movie soundtrack. He studied music theory at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, took lessons with jazz pianist Frank Sumares and performed with several college jazz ensembles. His music compositions attracted the attention of a movie producer, John Hyatt and the result was this recording of ten original songs destined for the soundtrack for a movie entitled Deadly Ransom, that was never released as planned in 1995. Contract disputes spoiled the completion of the movie project. One song on the CD, Preservation, was awarded honorable mention in the Billboard Annual national song contest. Dr. Allen is one of the founding members of a non- profit corporation, the Samuel C. Allen Memorial Scholarship Foundation. The foundation was formed in honor of the first African-American graduate of UC Davis, Dr. Allen's father, Sam Allen, who was himself a jazz pianist having performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Stuff Smith and others in the late 1930's. The younger Allen performs with small jazz ensembles on sporadic occasions and continues to compose new music. He is currently working on a second CD, which will be available Spring of 2004. Dr. Allen's dream is to establish a music camp for jazz students near Mendocino and is working on a development and fund-raising for this endeavor. . All proceeds from the sales of this CD are committed to the benefit of the Sam Allen Foundation scholarship program. To date the foundation has awarded to college students at UC Davis a total of $2,500.00 in scholarship funds. For further information on the Sam Allen Foundation see www.samallenfoundation.com.