Allan Vaché, born December 16, 1953, grew up in Rahway, New Jersey where he attended school and graduated Rahway High School in 1971. He grew up in a musical family, with a father (Warren Vaché Sr.), a renowned bass player and with a brother (Warren Vaché, Jr.) who is well known for his expertise on cornet and flugelhorn. Allan not surprisingly took to music early and while at Jersey City State College from 1971-1975, studied with David Dworkin of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as well as independently studying with the famous jazz artist, Kenny Davern.

During that same period Allan also performed many professional engagements with such jazz greats as: Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison, Pee Wee Erwin, Gene Krupa, Dick Hyman, Max Kaminsky, Clark Terry, Dick Wellstood, Ed Hubble, Cliff Leeman, Bob Haggart, Jack Lesberg, Lionel Hampton, Bob Wilber and many others. He also made numerous appearances with his brother Warren Vaché, Jr.

In 1974-1975 Allan appeared in an on-stage band in the Broadway musical Doctor Jazz at the Winter Garden theater, starring Bobby Van and Lola Falana for which Luther Henderson and Dick Hyman wrote instrumental arrangements.

In late 1975 Allan joined The Jim Cullum Jazz Band of San Antonio Texas, formerly The Happy Jazz Band. (Allan appears on all Riverwalk shows recorded up until 1992 and a special tribute to Artie Shaw recorded at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee in 2001 ). The band travelled extensively to Europe, Australia and Mexico, as well as making many festival appearances throughout the United States. Allan recorded nine albums and compact discs with this band, including the only jazz CD of the entire score of Porgy and Bess, released on CBS Masterworks records. Vaché and the band also made many concert appearances of Porgy and Bess, many featuring opera great William Warfield as narrator, throughout the Western Hemisphere and including The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and The Cervantino Arts Festival in Mexico City, for the U.S. State Department.

Allan and the Cullum band appeared at several "World Series of Jazz" concerts in San Antonio, Texas, alongside such jazz luminaries as Benny Goodman, Pete Fountain, Joe Venuti, Teddy Wilson, Scott Hamilton, Bob Wilber and many others. He also appeared with the band at Carnegie Hall at the "Tribute to Turk Murphy" concert in January, 1987. Other appearances prior to 1992 included the PBS television show Austin City Limits and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on Public Radio. Allan can also be heard on the soundtrack of the 1998 film The Newton Boys.

Allan left San Antonio in late summer 1992 to pursue a free lance career.  Since that time, he has appeared as a solo performer at jazz parties and festivals around the country and abroad. He has also returned at times to San Antonio as a guest clarinet on Riverwalk. In 1993 Allan moved to Orlando, Florida to perform at various Orlando attractions including Walt Disney World, Church Street Station and Rosie O'Grady's.

He has numerous recordings to his credit, both with other bands and under his own name, for various record labels. These include Audiophile, Jazzology, and Arbors Records.

Allan is an artist for Yamaha instruments and is also currently under contract to Nagel-Heyer of Hamburg, Germany, with twelve CDs to his credit under this label. Six of those CDs are with Allan as leader of groups such as the Swingtet, the Big Four and the Florida All-Stars.

Orlando, Florida is Allan's main base of operations where he has returned for a break from touring Germany, Austria, Scotland, Ireland, Poland and Switzerland. However, he is frequently called out to play at concerts and festivals throughout the U.S. and the world.

Send email to Allan Vaché.