With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades.

Born on April 25, 1961, Allen grew up on gospel, R&B, and funk but later turned to jazz after hearing an LP by the legendary saxophonist Benny Carter. He studied with drum instructor Roy Sneider and band director Robert Siemele. His first hometown gigs were with sax greats Sonny Stitt and James Moody. Allen studied at The University of Wisconsin at Green Bay from 1979 to 1981 and transferred to William Patterson College in New Jersey, where he graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies and Performance. In May of 2012, Allen received an honorary doctorate from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, in Humane Letters.

Allen is also an accomplished businessman. He co-founded Big Apple Productions in 1988 with saxophonist Vincent Herring and produced several recordings for several Japanese labels with future stars Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton. Several years ago, he created Nella Productions, which produces projects and developed an education component for the company called The New York Jazz Symposium, where he runs workshops around the world on jazz. Allen has also produced recordings for pianist Eric Reed, Dewey Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Kris Bowers, and guitarist Lage Lund, the winner of the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Monk Competition and many others totaling nearly 70 credits as a producer.