“A fully fledged composer, lyricist and vocalist, her ideas are filled with depth and
meaning and her lyrics profoundly unique.”
– Constance Tucker, All About Vocals
“A brilliant singer and even more thoughtful lyricist”
– H. Allen Williams, JazzTimes
"Allen's originals command attention."
- Scott Yanow, Downbeat (4 Star Review)
“Allen will mesmerize you with her voice and style. Wings Uncaged is a vastly different
experience than the standard vocal jazz fare, that offers depth and reverence, while
pushing the idiom forward."
- Steph Cosme, Staccotofy

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, vocalist Aimée Allen's intimate
connection with music began as a child. Her childhood was scored with classic jazz,
because her mother kept selections from the tradition on the family turntable. Though
singing was a part of her childhood, Aimée first began singing professionally with jazz a
cappella groups in college. After graduation, Aimée moved to Paris where she performed
regularly in jazz clubs and festivals. The deep relationship between the francophone
audiences and Brazilian bossa nova, led Aimée to form Les Bossa Novices, a Paris-based
group dedicated to bossa and jazz.
Aimée now performs regularly in New York City and frequently tours abroad.
Standards and bossa are part of her repertoire, but now an accomplished composer, she
also sings her original songs, many of which have become audience favorites. Her original
music has been licensed for feature film and network television. She has sung with many
renowned jazz musicians including Romero Lubambo, Ron McClure, François Moutin,
Roswell Rudd, Ari Hoenig, Joel Frahm, and Yomo Toro. She has also conducted student
workshops on songwriting and jazz performance. Aimée has been named a Rising Star jazz
vocalist on Downbeat Magazine’s Annual Critic’s Poll.
Tours and Recordings
Aimée’s latest album Love and the Catalyst is a collection of songs about love,
change and the catalytic agents that bring them about. It was nominated for a 2023
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album – Vocal, and garnered critical acclaim
and significant national radio play, reaching #35 on the JazzWeek radio charts and
making many of the Best-of-2022 lists. Aimée’s songwriting on the project was recognized
with The Comet’s Tail, named a Semi-Finalist for the 2022 International Songwriting
Competition and Quantum Entanglements a Finalist in the jazz category of The 28th Annual
U.S.A. Songwriting Competition (2023).
Aimée performs extensively in the New York metropolitan area and received a
South Arts Jazz Road Grant in 2021 for a 6-state tour in the U.S. She has toured abroad as

a headliner in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia and Senegal.
Aimée was the co-writer and interpreter of two songs on Fahir Atakoglu’s 2020 jazz
release For Love. The album was a collection of Atakoglu’s compositions interpreted by
multiple guest artists including Buika, Luciana Souza, and Romero Lubambo among others.
After a successful crowdfunding campaign contributed to by fans, Aimée
released, Wings Uncaged, in September of 2018. It features jazz standards, and Aimée’s
own compositions on the theme of transcendence, evocative song-stories with winged
creatures serving as metaphors. The album reached #32 on the JazzWeek charts (#1 on
the RMR jazz charts, and #8 on the NACC jazz charts), and was named a Best of 2019 by
Downbeat Magazine.
Aimée's last album, Matter of Time, released in May 2015 on Azuline Music features
master Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, François Moutin on bass, Toru Dodo on piano,
and Jacob Melchior on drums. The album is an exciting and soulful collection of Aimée’s
new compositions, unconventional interpretations of standards, and bossas featuring
Aimée and Romero in duo.
Aimée's previous release, Winters & Mays is that rare combination of soulful,
sensitive, and swinging. It includes Aimée’s thoughtful original songs as well as
reinterpretations of hand-picked gems, demonstrating Aimée's versatility through jazz,
bossa, blues, tango, ballads and even pop. Winters & Mays was released on Azuline Music
in 2011.
Aimée's second CD, l’Inexplicable, was the fruit of her trans-continental musical
experiences and her talents as a writer. It is a collection of warm, soulful, jazz-pop originals
blending African rhythms, Brazilian bossa, and classic jazz influences. Nearly all the tracks
were written by Aimée and are sung in French. l’Inexplicable was released in Japan in
2008 on Vivid Sound and in Europe on Schubert Music. Aimée's original compositions from
this album have been licensed for use in film and network television.
On her debut release, Dream, Aimée offered inspired interpretations of jazz
standards, familiar bossa nova classics and one original composition. In keeping with her
experiences, Dream includes vocals in English, French, and Portuguese.
Aimée is a member of NARAS and Winters & Mays, Matter of Time, Wings Uncaged
and Love and the Catalyst were all included in the first-round selection for the Grammys.
Aimée serves as Vice-President of the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Mechanical
Licensing Collective created by the Music Modernization Act.