Allen Blairman passed away. The legend from the neighbourhood

We were deeply shocked by the news. Alan Blairman, the great global Heidelberg drummer of American origin, it is fair to say, has died. There are two ways of putting his mastery into words. One is to simply list who he played with over the course of his long career. For reasons of space, here are just a few names that we are all very familiar with from Enjoy Jazz : Charlie Haden, Archie Shepp or Karl Berger. But you can get closer to this great spiritual spirit in his deeply rooted humanity by remembering personal encounters with him. He liked to have a pair of drumsticks with him during conversations, for example in a café, and was happy to explain his non-musical ideas rhythmically on the tabletop with the greatest of naturalness. When the people at the surrounding tables looked at him with irritation, he smiled and said wordlessly: "I can't help it. And it's in you too, this eternal rhythm". And somehow everyone understood. We will sorely miss this great drummer and incomparably warm-hearted person, who had found his last musical home in the "Trio Variety".