Sam Allen was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist.

Allen accompanied silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

s in movie palaces from age ten. In 1928 he moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 where he joined Herbert Cowans

Herbert Cowans

Herbert "Kat" Cowans or Cowens 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 Texas ensemble. After moving to Wichita Falls, he played in Frenchy's New Orleans Jazz Band,...

's band at the Rockland Palace. Soon after he moved back to Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, where he played with Alex Jackson

Alex Jackson

Alexander Skinner Jackson was a Scottish footballer.Alex Jackson was born in Renton in 1905. A highly-talented winger, known as the Gay Cavalier, he was particularly adept at dribbling and free kicks. He initially played for Renton Victoria Football Club but was transferred to Dumbarton F.C. in...

 in 1930. Soon after this he joined James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson

James P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...

's orchestra as the second pianist, and followed this with an extended run in Teddy Hill

Teddy Hill

Teddy Hill was a big band leader and the manager of Minton's Playhouse, a seminal jazz club in Harlem...

's band, which occupied him for most of the 1930s and included tours of Europe.

Early in the 1940s he worked with Stuff Smith

Stuff Smith

Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist. He is known well for the song "If You're a Viper".-Biography:...

 before becoming the pianist for Slim & Slam

Slim & Slam

Slim & Slam was a 1930s musical partnership formed by Bulee "Slim" Gaillard and Leroy Elliott "Slam" Stewart . They produced novelty jazz numbers featuring Slim's distinctive vocal style with vocalese and scats, hipster argot and nonce words...

, the gig for which he was best known. He also played with Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

 in the 1940s. Around the end of the decade he moved to Washington and worked locally as a solo pianist for a time, then relocated to Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, where he played with Billie Heywood among others.