Allen Lowe is a saxophonist, composer, and music historian who currently records for ESP Disk. He has led bands with Nles Cline, Julius Hemphill, Roswell Rudd, David Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, JD Allen, Marc Ribot, and others. He was named Jazz Times' Artist of the Year in the 2021/2022 Readers' Poll. The New York Times has called him "a musical anthropologist." Anthony Braxton has said “Allen Lowe is one of the few musicians doing anything new today. He is the tradition. I’m a big fan of Allen Lowe and I think as a musician and a scholar he is very important and I think he is deeply misunderstood because he doesn’t hate himself."