''My back and my legs are gone now. I've only done one professional gig and a couple of charity gigs since my birthday in June, so I suppose you could say I've finally retired now,'' the 85-year-old said yesterday.
''I still reckon I'm only 58, but my wife, Violet, says I'm dyslexic.''
The former Taieri and Gore High School teacher has been banging on about music for more than 60 years.
''If you don't count playing spoons on my mother's pots and pans, I probably started out with Tim Kearney at the South Dunedin Town Hall dances. But, I remember on VJ Day [Victory in Japan Day, August 15, 1945], marching down George St for three hours behind the Burns Highland Pipe Band.
''Drums was always my first choice. I wasn't one of those jokers who started out wanting to be a doctor and became a dentist. The variety of drums is the thing; you get to play brass, pipe, jazz and everything in between.''
For the past 17 years, Mr Allpress has been found every Thursday night in the Robbie Burns bar, playing with the Calder Prescott Jazz Quartet.
He was born in Dunedin in 1928 and developed an early love for music, singing in the High St School choir. He attended the inaugural Primary Schools' Choral Festival in the Dunedin Town Hall in 1939.
He became passionate about jazz in the big-band era of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong and one of many career highlights was meeting Count Basie after a concert.
''That's the closest I've ever been to crying in public,'' he confessed.
''I've had so much fun with jazz. It is an international language. You can stick three chaps together who don't know each other and who can't even speak the same language and, as soon as they hear the first piano note, they're away.
''That's the greatest joy of jazz. When you get in the zone, it's absolutely magical. It's terrific.''
Mr Allpress was founding secretary of the Dunedin Musicians Club in 1974 and in 1976 joined the Calder Prescott Trio, which had a regular Friday night residency at the City Hotel in Dunedin.
He also co-ordinated local talent for the 1988 and 1990 Telethons at the Dunedin Town Hall and even starred in a series of Tiger Tea television commercials in the 1970s.
''I had to sing the theme song: 'Catch that Tiger, catch that Tiger','' he recalled with a chuckle.
Despite hanging up his sticks, Mr Allpress said he ''might sneak in and sing a couple of numbers'' with the Calder Prescott Jazz Quartet at the Robbie Burns today between 8.30pm and 11.30pm.
