Max Allard

EZRA - froggy’s demise

Buy it on Bandcamp

With Froggy’s Demise, the core quartet presents ten widely varied compositions in the manner of contemporary chamber music, but each with heavy doses of jazz- and roots-based improvisation. Get ready for some spiky synchronized jabs, some supersonic triplets, some asymmetrical metric turns, some loping rhythms, some poignant sensitivity, and some real-nerdy harmonic shifts, all grounded by a playful, folky tunefulness.

Jacob Jolliff: mandolin
Max Allard: 5-string banjo
Jesse Jones: guitars, banjo (track 9)
Craig Butterfield: double bass

All tracks written by Jesse Jones, except:
Waldeinsamkeit, written by Max Allard
Sobreandando, written by Max Allard
McLaughlin, written by Craig Butterfield and Jesse Jones
Too Late, written by Craig Butterfield, arranged by Jesse Jones

Recorded at: Kaplow Recording Studio, Columbia SC
Engineered by: Cory Plaugh
Mixed by: David Sinko
Mastered by: Jeff Francis

Released by Adhyâropa Records
May 9, 2025

EZRA - Earth to EZRA

Buy it on Bandcamp

Ever wondered where the worlds of progressive bluegrass music and microtonal synthesis might intersect? The EZRA ensemble is game to answer the question on their adventurous second album, Earth to EZRA. Convening in an intimate studio in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, the core quartet — composer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Jones (guitars and vocals), Jacob Jolliff (mandolin), Max Allard (banjo) and Craig Butterfield (double bass) — teamed up with musical polymath Mark Stewart and keyboardist Xak Bjerken to craft a complex recording that is by turns whimsical, uplifting, haunting and otherworldly. And you can dance to it.

Jesse Jones - steel string, fretless, microtonal and classical guitars, vocals
Mark Stewart - xaphoon, chaladoo, daxophone, guitar, mandocello, percussion, vocals
Jacob Jolliff - mandolin and 13-tet guitar
Max Allard - 5-string banjo
Craig Butterfield - bass
Xak Bjerken - piano, toy piano and 31-tet Rothenberg Moog organ

Produced by Xak Bjerken and Elizabeth Ogonek
Recorded by Dave Dennison at Studio 9 in North Adams, MA
Mixed by Dave Sinko
Edited and mastered by Jeff Francis

Released by Cantaloupe Music
September 6, 2024

EZRA - ezra

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 with Adhyâropa Records.

Jacob Jolliff, mandolin

Max Allard, banjo 

Jesse Jones, guitar and piano
Craig Butterfield, double bass

All tracks written by Jesse Jones


Produced by EZRA

Engineered and Mixed by Paul Eachus
Mastered by Dave Sinko
Album Art by Bailey Jones 


Released by Adhyâropa Records
March 1, 2024

march maxness

In March 2021, Max launched a series exclusively for his Patreon subscribers called March Maxness, in which he wrote and recorded a new piece of music every day for the entire month. In March of 2023, he released it to the public.

Written and Recorded by Max Allard  
Design by Otto Allard

Released: March 1, 2023

ODES / CODES

Mostly a solo banjo record with two solo guitar tracks and a solo piano piece, Odes / Codes explores the banjo’s depth and warmth and its pianistic similarity. It’s an example of a new way of thinking for the banjo and how it fits in non-bluegrass music.

Produced by Jayme Stone
Engineered and Mastered by David Travers-Smith
Photography by Evan Sheehan 
Design by Otto Allard

Released: January 2021

rooster

This album is a combination of the previously released EP Soleil, with the addition of four more tracks: two singles (Rooster and Grey Owl) that were released in early 2020, as well as a couple live recordings from a show at The Old Town School of Folk Music in February 2020.

Design by Otto Allard

Released: April 10, 2020