Allen Blairman

Blairman Allen ( born August 13, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ) is an American drummer of modern jazz.

Life and work

Blairman began in Pittsburgh playing the drums. His first band was the Alden Jazz Quartet. He played with musicians such as bassist John Hurt, trombonist Nelson Harrison, saxophonist George Green, guitarist Jerry Byrd and the organist Jimmy Smith. From 1959 he was a member of the " Charles Bell Contemporary Jazz Quartet " by Charles Bell, with whom he recorded two records. He moved in 1964 to Washington, D.C. and in 1968 to New York, where he played with George Benson, Charles Mingus, Slide Hampton, Chet Baker, Charlie Haden and Archie Shepp. In 1970 he joined with Albert Ayler in France. With Karl Berger in 1971 he toured through Europe, where he settled in Heidelberg. He was playing with Albert Mangelsdorff and with Mal Waldron, with whom he recorded also. In addition, he also appeared in Blue context with Eddie Taylor (1973) and in 1976 with the group embryo in Munich. Later he played with Fred Anderson and Peter Kowald, but also with Bireli Lagrene and Jan Jankeje, then with Sid Kucera and Four 4 Jazz ( with Rick Bracken ), the organ trio of Maggy Scott, the trio of Uli Lenz, in the quartet of Rocky Knauer and with Frank Runhof. Currently, he plays with his trio Variety, which also includes the Mannheim saxophonist Olaf Schönborn belongs, as well as with another trio with Rocky Knauer and Ulli Jünemann.