Blairman was born in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania on August 13, 1940. As an eighteen-year-old, he performed with the Charles Bell Contemporary Jazz Quartet at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Lecture Hall in January 1959. In May 1960, he received the Outstanding Musician award and a scholarship to the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston, Massachusetts during the Intercollegiate Jazz Festival at
Georgetown University in
Georgetown for his performance with the Charles Bell Contemporary Jazz Quartet, which was recognized for its first place finish with the award of a recording contract with
Columbia Records, a contract with the Associated Artist booking agency, a two-week engagement opportunity at the
Birdland jazz club in
New York City, and an additional opportunity to appear at the
Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. Still performing with that quartet in 1961, his drumming was captured on the ensemble's seven-selection record in April of that year. By 1964, he was performing in
Manhattan with the Wendell Byrd Trio. In 1968, he moved from Pittsburgh to New York, where he worked with
Charles Mingus,
Chet Baker and
Archie Shepp. In 1970, he performed with
Albert Ayler at the
Fondation Maeght in France. Two years later, he toured throughout Europe with
Karl Berger. By 1976, he was performing with a German Jazz rock group called Embryo. The next year, Blairman recorded with
Mal Waldron, former accompanist for the late Billie Holiday, on Waldron's 1977 album, "Hard Talk"; he then later recorded again with Waldron for
Enja, as well as with
Albert Mangelsdorff. While in France, he collaborated with
Bireli Lagrene. In 1991 he recorded "Life at the Montreux Music Festival" in trio-formation with
Günter Lenz and
Uli Lenz. In addition, he performed with saxophonist Olaf Schönborn and bassist Mario Fadani for twenty years in the jazz ensemble, "Trio Variety," and, beginning in 2009, with tap dancer Kurt Albert and Olaf Schönborn in the jazz formation, "Melody Rhythm & Tap." ==Death==