Allen Mezquida is an illustrator and jazz saxophonist.
Biography edit
Mezquida was a jazz alto saxophonist in the New York area for much of the 1980s and 1990s.[1] He recorded one album as leader – A Good Thing, which was released by Koch in 1996.[2] His quartet for the album was Bill Mays or Brad Mehldau on piano, bassist Sean Smith, and drummer Leon Parker.[2] In the late 1990s, Mezquida decided to try something else: he later commented that "I was feeling underappreciated, a lot of self-pity",[3] and "I was more frustrated with jazz's tiny place in the current cultural landscape than with my jazz career".[1]
He then drew cartoons and took up digital animation.[1] After moving to Los Angeles, he got work for major film studios.[1] He later described this as "executing the ideas of morons that I didn't respect", and started a YouTube channel for his animated creation, Smigly.[3]
Mezquida played saxophone on Molly Ringwald's Except Sometimes.[4]
Discography edit
As leader edit
As sideman edit
With Cow Bop (Bruce Forman)
- Too Hick for the Room (B4Man)[5]
With Mark Murphy
- Links (HighNote)
With Molly Ringwald
With Sean Smith
- Sean Smith Quartet Live! (Chiaroscuro)
References edit
- ^ a b c d Springer, Mike (September 24, 2011) "Jazz Toons: Allen Mezquida's Journey from Bebop to Smigly". Open Culture.
- ^ a b Yanow, Scott "Allen Mezquida – A Good Thing". AllMusic. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ^ a b Gavin, James (September 3, 2010) "YouTube's Rising Cartoon Star". The Daily Beast.
- ^ Louden, Christopher (April 22, 2013) "Molly Ringwald: A Star, Reborn". JazzTimes.
- ^ Hadley, Frank John (October 2011) "Cow Bop – Too Hick for the Room". Down Beat. p. 59.