Background
Barnes was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 21, 1949.
Barnes was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 21, 1949.
In 1967, Barnes enlisted in the United States Army and trained at the Army Element of the United States. Naval School of Music. After a year in the 437th, he was deployed to Vietnam and the 4th Division Army Band. After being discharged, Barnes played his way back to Detroit.
He was discovered by the legendary Donald Byrd who insisted that Barnes come to Howard University and play with a new band he was putting together, The Blackbyrds.
Barnes traveled the world with Donald Byrd and The Blackbyrds. The band"s first album went gold with Barnes writing two of the songs: “Summer Love” and “The Blackbirds Theme”.
The band"s second album, Flying Start, contained the hit single “Walking in Rhythm”, with Barnes being featured on the flute. Barnes went on to front his own band, Allan Barnes and Primetime.
During his career Barnes wrote music with John Malone and had a single, “Disco Dancin"”, on the first Taste of Honey album and with R. Kelly co-wrote the single “Money Makes the World Go Round”.
He has written music for commercials with Larry King, Brenda Sykes, Sugar Ray Leonard, Leslie Nielsen, and Muhammad Ali. He penned the music for the Public Broadcasting Service movie One Night’s Run and the Public Broadcasting Service series Small Business Magazine. In addition he wrote station identification theme for the University of Michigan public television station.
Barnes created and hosted the Public Broadcasting Service show Jazzland.
He also had a cameo in the Clint Eastwood film Bird. Barnes recently wrote “Until We Meet Again”, a classic jazz piece.
He has recently been seen in the feature role in the Public Broadcasting Service special American Jazz Greats: Evolution of the Jazz Saxophone. Barnes leads the band Giant Steps, which consists of six band leaders: Cliff Monear, Marion Hayden, Rayse Biggs, Sunny Wilkinson,and Gayelynn McKinney.
His sound has been described as "calling out to the audience and inviting them in with his masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and his significant contributions to the preservation of the history of jazz".
Barnes has more recently been employed by several modern Detroit artists in the Detroit hip-hop scene including Finale, Big Tone, and Stryfe, all of which he has performed for in the studio. Barnes has been a frequent collaborator of the Detroit hip-hop/funk fusion band Gorilla Funk Mob since 2007. Barnes is featured on Rebirth of Detroit (2012), along with a wide array of Detroit hip-hop artists, all performing over beats from legendary producer J Dilla.