Allen Hanuman was born in 1980 in MD, shortly thereafter his family moved to Colorado. He started playing the piano when he was five years old and the trumpet when he was eleven. His initial influence to play music came from his elder brothers. He has lived in Alaska, Colorado, Virginia, Washington State, Florida and Massachusetts. Allen knew he wanted to play the trumpet when he was eight years old after seeing a performance by trumpeter Phil Driscoll. Throughout his adolescence Allen played with various ensembles including a Washington D.C. funk band called Solid and another called Prophecy. Allen studied under Master Sergeant David Detwiler, Lead Trumpet of the U.S. Army Blues and Jazz. He has performed at the Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center, NY. Allen was selected by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to represent Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. in the 1998 National Grammy High School Jazz Ensemble. With that ensemble, he was privileged to play with trumpet guest soloists and virtuosos Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis. Additionally he has played at some of New York's premier venues and jazz clubs including the Village Vanguard,the Knitting Factory, Birdland, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, record at the Hit Factory and attend the 1998 Grammy Awards. Allen attended the University of Miami School of Music and Berklee College of Music.Allen has also performed with Georgetown University and University of Denver big bands. While at the University of Miami Allen performed in the University of Miami Salsa Orchestra, Big Bands, Small Jazz Combos, Band of the Hour Marching Band, recorded in conjunction with the studio programs and studied under Associate Trumpet Professor Alan Hood. While at Berklee College of Music, Allen performed in the Afro-Cuban Ensemble under the Direction of Grammy Award Winner Victor Mendoza, various ensembles and studied under Tiger Okoshi and Lin Biviano.Allen has been performing with the Denver bands Eight – o – Two, Hypnotic Fly, Furious George and the Monster Groove, reggae band Irie Still and singer songwriter Mike Maurer. His music with the band Hypnotic Fly has been featured on the Colorado FM radio stations 99.5 the Mountain and 99.9 the Point. He was performing the funk/rock/hip hop band U.S. Pipe. With this group he has shared the stage with Parliament-Funkadelic members; Bass Player, Lige Curry, Drummer, Rico “Ric Smoov†Lewis, Guitarist and Stage Manager Chris “Citrus†Sauthoff and Trumpet Player, Rick Gardner. One of Allen's most recent performances has been with Trombone Player and arranger, Greg Boyer of Prince's NPG Band.
