Geri Allen
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Geri Allen | |
|---|---|
 Allen in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 12, 1957 Pontiac, Michigan, U.S. |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | June 27, 2017 (aged 60) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Genres | Jazz, post-bop, blues music, funk, gospel |
| Occupation(s) | Musician Educator Record producer |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1982–2017 |
| Labels | Motema Music Polygram Storyville Blue Note Telarc |
| Website | www.GeriAllen.com |
Geri Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist and composer.[1][2]
A Detroit native, Allen worked with many jazz musicians, including Ornette Coleman, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, and Charles Lloyd. She cited her primary influences to be her parents, Mount Vernell Allen Jr, and Barbara Jean Allen, and her primary musical influences to be mentors Marcus Belgrave, Donald Walden, and Betty Carter, as well as pianists Herbie Hancock, Mary Lou Williams, Hank Jones, Alice Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell, and mentor Billy Taylor.
Allen was an Associate Professor of Music and the Director of the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh.
Early life and career
Allen was born in Pontiac, Michigan and educated in the Detroit Public Schools.[3]
Later life and career
In 2006, Allen was commissioned to compose "For the Healing of the Nations", a Sacred Jazz Suite for Voices, written in tribute to the victims, survivors and their families of the September 11 attacks. The suite was performed by Howard University's Afro-Blue Jazz Choir, under the direction of Connaitre Miller. Oliver Lake, Craig Harris, Andy Bey, Dwight Andrews, Mary Stallings, Carmen Lundy, Nnenna Freelon, Jay Hoggard, and other musicians also participated. The poetry was contributed by Sandra Turner-Barnes.
Allen had been a longtime resident of Montclair, New Jersey[4] before moving to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 2012 after being offered the position of Director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Pittsburgh.
Allen died on June 27, 2017, two weeks after her 60th birthday, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after suffering from cancer.[5]
Discography
As leader/co-leader
As sidewoman
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With Roy Brooks
- Duet in Detroit (Enja, 1989 [1993])
With Betty Carter
- Droppin' Things (Verve, 1993)
- Feed the Fire (Verve, 1993)
With Ornette Coleman
- Sound Museum: Hidden Man (Harmolodic/Verve, 1996)
- Sound Museum: Three Women (Harmolodic/Verve, 1996)
With Steve Coleman
- Motherland Pulse (JMT, 1985)
- And Five Elements: On the Edge of Tomorrow (JMT, 1986)
- And Five Elements: World Expansion (JMT, 1986)
- And Five Elements: Sine Die (Pangaea, 1986) on one track only
With Buddy Collette
- Flute Talk (Soul Note, 1988) with James Newton
With Charlie Haden
- Etudes (Soul Note, 1987)
- The Montreal Tapes: with Geri Allen and Paul Motian (Verve, 1989 [1997])
- The Montreal Tapes: Liberation Music Orchestra (Verve, 1989 [1999])
With Oliver Lake
- Expandable Language (Black Saint, 1984)
- Otherside (Gramavision, 1988)
- Talkin' Stick (Passin' Thru, 2000)
- At This Time (Intakt, 2009)
With Charles Lloyd
- Lift Every Voice (ECM, 2002)
- Jumping the Creek (ECM, 2004)
With Frank Lowe
- Decision in Paradise (Soul Note, 1984)
With Paul Motian
- Monk in Motian (JMT, 1988)
With Greg Osby
- Mindgames (JMT, 1988)
With Dewey Redman
- Living on the Edge (Black Saint, 1989)
- Dream Come True (GCR 1979 reissued Celeste Japan 2008)
With Woody Shaw
- Bemsha Swing (Blue Note, 1986 [1997])
With John Stubblefield
- Bushman Song (Enja, 1986)
With Gary Thomas
- By Any Means Necessary (JMT, 1989)
With Trio 3 (Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman & Andrew Cyrille)
- At This Time (Intakt, 2009)
- Celebrating Mary Lou Williams (Intakt, 2011)
With the Mary Lou Williams Collective
- Zodiac Suite: Revisited (Mary, 2006)
See also
References
- ^ Lars Helgert ([s.d.]). Allen, Geri. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accessed July 2017. (subscription required).
- ^ Mark Gilbert, Gary W. Kennedy ([s.d.]). Allen, Geri. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accessed July 2017. (subscription required).
- ^ Cook, Richard (2005). Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia. London: Penguin Books. p. 8. ISBN 0-141-00646-3.
- ^ Staudter, Thomas. "Making Jazz and Family, Home and the Road Work Together", The New York Times, September 9, 2001. Accessed September 18, 2017. "Her luggage already packed for a late afternoon flight to San Francisco, Geri Allen, a jazz pianist, still had several precious hours remaining before her departure out of Newark, so she was filling the morning in the company of three children, ages 3 to 11. Ms. Allen's husband, Wallace Roney, a trumpeter, had returned home after midnight from an evening rehearsal at Carnegie Hall, and to respect his need to sleep, mother and children romped in the yard until growling stomachs sent them back inside to the breakfast table.... Ms. Allen and Mr. Roney have lived in their three-story frame house in Montclair, a short trip from Manhattan, since 1991."
- ^ Adlet, David R. (27 June 2017). "Geri Allen, Brilliantly Expressive Pianist, Composer and Educator, Dies at 60". WGBO. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
External links
- 1957 births
- 2017 deaths
- African-American jazz pianists
- African-American record producers
- American record producers
- American female jazz musicians
- American jazz composers
- American jazz educators
- Cass Technical High School alumni
- Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania
- Guggenheim Fellows
- Howard University alumni
- Musicians from Detroit
- Musicians from New Jersey
- Musicians from Pittsburgh
- People from Montclair, New Jersey
- Post-bop jazz musicians
- University of Pittsburgh alumni
- University of Pittsburgh faculty
- Women jazz pianists