Archie Alleyne (January 7, 1933 – June 8, 2015) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

drummer."Archie Alleyne, renowned Toronto jazz drummer, dead at 82"

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, June 8, 2015. Best known as a drummer for influential jazz musicians such as

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

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and

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...

, he was also prominent as a recording artist on his own and with Canadian jazz musicians such as Oliver Jones, Cy McLean and Brian Browne."RIP Archie Alleyne"
''

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'', June 9, 2015. Born and raised in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Alleyne became the house drummer at the Town Tavern jazz club in his 20s. Following a serious car accident in 1967, Alleyne stepped away from music for a number of years, becoming a partner with Dave Mann, John Henry Jackson and Howard Matthews in The Underground Railroad, a

soul food Soul food is an ethnic cuisine traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans, originating in the Southern United States.Soul Food originated with the foods that were given to enslaved Black people by their white owners on Souther ...

restaurant in Toronto. After being bought out of the restaurant in 1981, he returned to music in the early 1980s with Oliver Jones' band. Alleyne was named to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...

in 2011. He established the Archie Alleyne Scholarship Fund to provide

bursaries A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some aw ...

to music students, and wrote ''Colour Me Jazz: The Archie Alleyne Story'', an autobiography which was published a few months after his death."Colour Me Jazz: The Archie Alleyne Story launch, reading"
CJRT-FM, October 28, 2015.

References

External links

Archie Alleyne archives
are held at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University Libraries,

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

1933 births 2015 deaths Black Canadian musicians Black Canadian writers Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian autobiographers Canadian jazz drummers Canadian male drummers Canadian people of Nigerian descent Canadian restaurateurs Canadian male jazz musicians Members of the Order of Canada Musicians from Toronto Writers from Toronto 20th-century Canadian drummers 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian male writers {{Canada-musician-stub