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Bill Allred

It all started in New Orleans, Bill's grandmother was born near New Orleans in the town of Franklin. His Father, John, was a jazz pianist and banjoist on many of the steamboats of the great "Strickfus Line" playing in and around New Orleans as well as up and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

Bill Allred was also born near the Mississippi River in the town of Rock Island. He played trombone at Rock Island High School, in the U.S.Navy Band and at St. Ambrose College.

In 1971, Bill auditioned for the position of staff musician at the new Walt Disney World attraction in Orlando, Florida. He was chosen as one of the original 200 staff musicians from over 2500 auditioned.

In 1974, Bill's next stop was at Rosie O'Grady's in Orlando, Florida where he organized the Goodtime Jazz Band and produced the world-famous Goodtime Show. Bill Allred remained at Rosie O'Grady's for over 15 years serving as Entertainment Director and Band Leader. Bill's production efforts have been rewarded by many accolades, among them, the coveted Carbonel award given by Florida Entertainment writers for excellence in show production.

In 1991 Bill accepted an offer to return to Walt Disney World as a staff musician. In addition to Disney, he continues to head up his own entertainment production company in Orlando and is involved in many musical activities. With all of these activities, Bill still finds time to broaden his musical scope by traveling, performing and recording throughout the US and in Europe.

His jazz performances have taken him to the major jazz festivals and concerts in the United States and abroad. Bill has appeared in concerts with Jack Teagarden, Billy Butterfield, Al Hirt, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Al Cohen, Zoot Sims, Snooky Young, Ross Tomkins, Bob Cooper, Milt Hinton, Bob Haggart, Butch Miles, Tom Saunders, Chuck Hedges, and countless other jazz personalities from all over the world.

For some years, Bill was a member of the Wild Bill Davison Jazz Band, traveling to Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England, South America and at many other festivals and concerts worldwide. Bill still remains a member of Wild Bill Davison Legacy Band, a group championed by cornetist Tom Saunders. The Wild Bill Legacy recently performed concerts in Lacrosse, Wisconsin and Sacramento and returned to Europe in 1995 on their 10th Anniversary tour.



Classic Jazz Band

Now in its 19th year of existence, Bill Allred’s Classic Jazz Band was born in 1990 as a group of ex-Rosie O’Grady and Disney musicians when the staff musician roles in both places began to erode. They started essentially as a “kicks” band, collecting and playing the arrangements of Matty Matlock and Billy Maxted. After performing at a few jazz festivals, they realized that there was a real market for their “little big band” type of sound. That was more than 18 years and 12 recordings ago.

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Performance / Tour

A two-phase classic jazz journey

A two-phase classic jazz journey

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes

Trombonist Bill Allred and his Classic Jazz Band brought their Charlotte County Jazz Society audience on a musical journey, on Monday, November 12, that explored music rooted in New Orleans, moved up the Mississippi River, and then over the highways to dig into the big band phenomenon that took the country by storm starting in the 1930s. In its fourth visit to the CCJS concert series, Allred's band included reed player Terry Myers, trumpeters Charlie Bertini and Randy Sandke and ...

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Performance / Tour

Freshening classic jazz

Freshening classic jazz

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes

Trombonist Bill Allred knows how to honor the earliest jazz and the finest in big band swing without sounding dated in any way. He did so with his eight-piece Classic Jazz Band Monday, March 9 in the Charlotte County Jazz Society's concert series in Port Charlotte FL. The Orlando-based octet is a high-energy outfit that knows how to make the music swing, and then some. “Let's get this party started," the leader said as the band launched into Duke Ellington's ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The New York Sessions

Arbors Records
2010

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Thirteen

Self Produced
2009

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