Sandal Maker / Fiddler Allan Block Dies
Allan Block
photo by Bill Spence
We just received the sad news that sandal maker / fiddler Allan Block passed away on Wednesday, October 23rd, at 90 years of age. Allan was a seminal figure in the Folk Revival and Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s, father to the great blueswoman Rory Block, and a terrific old-time fiddler. He continued to bring his terrific craftwork to festivals in the northeast until quite recently, and it was always wonderful to hear his craggy, true fiddle on the grounds of the Old Songs Festival and other gathering places where lovers of traditional music gathered.
We found a terrific reminiscence of Allan’s emergence in Greenwich Village on another blog called OldTimeParty that I think captures both how important a figure Allan was to that point in musical history, and a bit of what made him the wonderful, approachable musician we all came to love. Here’s the piece:
In 1948, Allan found himself in New York, married and having children to support. He found that he had a fine coordination between eye and hand. He could look at a piece of leather, wood or metal, see what needed to be done and do it. He could see something that was already made and figure out how to make another. In 1950, a Greenwich Village leather shop came up for sale, and Allan borrowed the necessary $1,200 to buy it.
Musicians started hanging around the shop. Old timey musicians, folk musicians. Ralph Rinzler, John Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Pete and Mike Seeger, Lee Hays, Freddie Hellerman and Cisco Huston – the shop became a place for these people and many others to come and jam when they were in town. After a while, Allan joined in with guitar, banjo, and sometimes fiddle. John Cohen, Mike Seeger and Tom Paley formed the New Lost City Ramblers, and Allan frequently joined them, absorbing, and waking up to a heritage that went beyond his childhood.
Jack Elliot (in hat) and Allan Block (fiddle)
When the New Lost City Ramblers were forming, John Cohen had loaned Allan a tape of the Ramblers’ music. Allan was soon fiddling, playing the banjo, and singing the material in his shop. Saturday became folk music time at the shop. There was no singer-songwriter music and scarcely any bluegrass. It was old-time mountain music, played in a style that approximated the original.
Bob Dylan dropped by several times during his early days in new York. He sat on the high work counter, smiling, saying very little, and soaking everything up like a sponge.
As his daughter Rory wrote in her autobiography*, “[Allan] eventually became the reigning impresario of the incredibly vital folk revival scene in the West Village, hosting regular Saturday afternoon jam sessions in his sandal shop after music in Washington Square was banned (something about a “no loitering” law). Bursting with enthusiastic musicians and fans, the players and spectators literally spilled out onto the sidewalk while the center of the room steamed up from the intensity of the music as [he] held court and directed.
“Everyone knew his thing was ‘holding down the beat,’ and from time to time an excited musician would receive a gruff reprimand as [Allan] snapped, “Speeding up!” while casting a grave eye at the offender. One then had to pay sharper attention to his stomping foot, which pounded out the beat like Big Ben, seemingly setting the standard for worldwide time. If [Allan] was a bit imposing with his fiddle and his watchful eye, he was also a catalyst for those eager to share in a truly historic musical transformation that was to be part of the wider phenomenon of renewed interest in American roots music.”
In 1969, Allan moved to New Hampshire, native land of his new wife, Fleur. Allan left his now thriving sandal shop to his children (who ran it until 1979) and set up shop in a barn adjacent to the old Cape that he and Fleur had bought. Soon Allan was going to dances, and it was in New Hampshire that the fiddle really came out. Allan would sit in with the band, and once Dudley Lauffman found out he could read music he provided him with the scores for all the old dances – “Hull’s Victory,” “Rory O’More,” “Ladies Walpole (or Lady Walpole’s) Reel,” “Chorus Jig,” and “Petronella” – and Allan became a regular sight (and sound) at dances.
For a taste of Allan’s terrific fiddling, check out this 1986 performance video (with Martha Burns on guitar) from YouTube: