Sam Allen (January 30, 1909 – April 1963) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

pianist.

Early life

Allen was born in Middleport, Ohio. Beginning at the age of 10, he accompanied silent films on piano in movie theaters.

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twe ...

, Sam Allenat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

Career

In 1928, Allen moved to New York City, where he joined

Herbert Cowans Herbert "Kat" Cowans or Cowens (born May 24, 1904 - Jan. 23rd, 1993) was an American jazz drummer born in Texas. Cowans worked as a shoeshine boy as a child. His first professional engagement as a drummer was with the Satisfied Five, a local Tex ...

's band at the Rockland Palace. Before long, he moved back to Ohio, where he played with saxophonist Alex Jackson in 1930. He joined James P. Johnson's orchestra as the second pianist and then was a member of the

Teddy Hill Teddy Hill (December 7, 1909 in Birmingham, Alabama – May 19, 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American big band leader and the manager of Minton's Playhouse, a seminal jazz club in Harlem. He played a variety of instruments, including dru ...

band. In the 1940s he worked with

Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...

, Dizzy Gillespie, and became pianist for Slim & Slam.

Discography

With Dizzy Gillespie * ''

The Complete RCA Victor Recordings ''The Complete RCA Victor Recordings'' is a 1995 compilation 2-CD set of sessions led by Jazz trumpeter and composer Dizzy Gillespie recorded for the RCA Victor label between 1937 and 1949. Reception Writing for Allmusic, Richard S. Ginell sta ...

'' (Bluebird, 1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Sam 1909 births 1963 deaths American jazz pianists American male pianists 20th-century American pianists Jazz musicians from Ohio 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Slim & Slam members People from Middleport, Ohio