Allan Vaché graduated from Roosevelt Elementary School, Rahway Junior High School and Rahway High School in Rahway, New Jersey. He also attended Jersey City State College in Jersey City, New Jersey from 1971-1975. He studied with David Dworkin of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and with famed jazz artist Kenny Davern.
From 1972-1975 Allan 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 and many others. He also made numerous appearances with his brother, famed jazz cornetist, Warren Vaché, Jr.
From 1974-1975 Allan appeared in the onstage band for the Broadway musical Doctor Jazz, at the Winter Garden Theater.
In late 1975 Allan joined The Jim Cullum Jazz Band of San Antonio, Texas. He traveled extensively with this band to Europe, Australia and Mexico, as well as to many concert and festival appearances throughout the U.S. He has recorded nearly ten albums and compact discs with this band, including the only jazz CD of the entire score of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," released on CBS Masterworks records. Concerts of "Porgy & Bess," many featuring opera great William Warfield as narrator, were performed by Allen and the band at venues throughout the Western hemisphere, including The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and The Cervantino Arts Festival in Mexico City.
Allan has appeared in several World Series of Jazz concerts in San Antonio. These concerts featured the Cullum band alongside such jazz luminaries as Benny Goodman, Pete Fountain, Joe Venuti, Teddy Wilson, Scott Hamilton, Bob Wilber and many others. Allan appeared with Jim Cullum at Carnegie Hall at the Tribute to Turk Murphy concert in January 1987. He has also performed with Cullum on the CBS Morning News, and PBS television show Austin City Limits. Allan performed on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and was a regular performer on PRI's Riverwalk – Live from the Landing, from 1987-1992. This program aired on over 200 public radio stations in the U.S. and abroad.
Since the summer of 1992, he has appeared as a solo performer at several jazz festivals and parties, including appearances with pop performers Bonnie Rait and Leon Redbone. Allen can also be heard on the soundtrack of the 1998 film The Newton Boys.
In 1993, he moved to Orlando, Florida to perform at various Orlando attractions including Walt Disney World and Church Street Station. Allen has numerous recordings to his credit, for various labels, including Audiophile, Jazzology, Arbors, Sweet Jazz, and Nagel-Heyer (Hamburg, Germany). His recordings include Ballads, Burners & Blues, released in March of 2004, with his wife, Vanessa Vaché, on clarinet as a special guest; With Benny in Mind, a tribute to Benny Goodman, released in November of 2006; Classic Jazz Duets with pianist Mark Shane on the Sweet Jazz label of Hilton Head, South Carolina, released in August of 2007; Look to the Sky, featuring Allan with The Central Florida Chamber Orchestra, released in 2010; and It Might As Well Be Swing featuring The Allan Vaché Quartet, with two selections for three clarinets featuring Vanessa Vaché and Erin Davis, released in 2018.
In 2000, Allan became music director of the jazz cruise Jazz Fest at Sea, held annually, featuring many well-known jazz performers each year.
Having toured in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Russia, Austria, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, France, Brazil, Spain and Israel, Allan works as a freelance artist in the Orlando area and appears at many concerts and festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
