max allard
"A new mature and poetic voice on the 5 string banjo. Beautiful compositions and a very nice touch.”
— Béla Fleck
Max Allard is a banjoist, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Chicago. His musical influences span from bluegrass to electronic music. Max’s solo debut album, Odes / Codes was released in January 2022 and produced by Jayme Stone. He released his project March Maxness in 2023, which was 31 tracks written in 31 days of March 2021.
Max is a member of the progressive bluegrass band EZRA. Formed by multi-instrumentalist and composer Jesse Jones, the core quartet also includes Max on banjo, Jacob Jolliff on mandolin, and Craig Butterfield on contrabass. The debut album EZRA released March 2024 with Adhyâropa Records. The second album Earth to EZRA dropped September 2024 with Cantaloupe Music, and the third album will be released March 2025.
Max is the winner of the 2018 RockyGrass Banjo Competition and the 2019 FreshGrass Banjo Award. Max was awarded the inaugural J.D. Crowe Scholarship from the IBMA Foundation. Max is currently in his fourth year studying composition at Oberlin Conservatory.
Founded by award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalistJesse Jones, EZRA is Jacob Jolliff (mandolin), Max Allard (banjo), Craig Butterfield (double bass), and Jones (guitar and piano). EZRA’s self-titled debut album includes nine works by Jones and was released in March 2024 with Adhyâropa Records.
For their second album, EZRA teamed up with pianist Xak Bjerken, composer Elizabeth Ogonek, and musical polymath Mark Stewart, to add a few less traditional instruments to their bluegrass instrumentation: xaphoon, chaladoo, daxophone and a one-of-a-kind MOOG synthesizer. This album features works written by Jones, Butterfield, Allard, and Jeffry Eckles, in addition to three improvisations by the entire band. A weird, wild, wonderful ride, Earth to EZRA dropped in September 2024 with Cantaloupe Music.
A third album with the core ensemble with be released in March 2025. That album features 10 new works written by Jones, Allard, and Butterfield.
“…an incredibly potent album with a high string wizardry quotient and lots of heart.”
“…one of our planet’s premier purveyors of progressive bluegrass.”
“New out of this world progressive string music”
— Jason Marck, Radio Z, WBEZ Chicago
“…what I can only call an acoustic supergroup.”
"The kind of overwhelming talent that doesn’t need a crew behind him to fill your ears with sound..."
—chris spector
midwest record
"It’s a beast of an album…a testament to Max's versatility and musicianship."
—Rick Stuart
Roots & Fusion, UK
For booking, please contact: maxallardmusic@gmail.com