June 17, 2008
JVC Jazz Festival / Tribute to Alice Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane, Saxophone
Geri Allen, Piano
Charlie Haden, Bass
Jack De Johnette, Drums
Ethical Culture Theatre - New York City
August 31, 2008
Detroit Jazz Festival
Ravi Coltrane, Saxophone
Geri Allen, Piano
Charlie Haden, Bass
Jack De Johnette, Drums
Click
here for all of Geri's upcoming tour dates.
Schedule Change for Geri Allen
Geri's Village Vanguard dates have changed to December 2 - 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008
GERI ALLEN Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment. One of the hallmarks of the Guggenheim Fellowship program is the diversity of its Fellows, not only in their fields of endeavor but in their geographic location and ages.
Geri A. Allen, associate professor of music, for music composition. Allen's project celebrates humanity and embraces the continuity of innovation as personified by three artists - pianist-composers Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Cecil Taylor.
Allen Says:
I am grateful to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for honoring me and my work today with this prestigious award.
Every artist dreams of the chance to freely create unimpeded. As a working mother of three children, this honor
Encourages me, and will give me the freedom to create what I hope will be my best work.
"Refractions", my composition will celebrate the humanity and embrace the continuity of innovation in Jazz, as personified by three of the revolutionary
Pianist- composers: Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Cecil Taylor.
Jazz is a music of continuity and a direct outgrowth of the spirit of a people who rose, thrived and innovated in spite of impossible odds.
My new music will speak to freedom. Just as light passes through a prism and emerges in a new direction, I will allow the music of
Taylor, Tyner and Hancock to pass through me, in the hope that my new work will emerge at a different angle through the prism
Of my compositional imagination.
Click
here .
Geri Allen - ITINERARY 2008
February 21-24 Thurs.-Sun
IRUDIM 8:30pm & 10:pm
New York, New York
(David Weiss’s band)
February 26 Tuesday
MIDDLE TENNESSE STATE 7:30pm
T. Earl Hinton Music Hall
Middle, Tennessee
(Solo)
March 6-9 Thurs.-Sun
IRIDIUM
New York, New York 8:30pm & 10:30pm
(Oliver Lake – Trio 3)
March 29 Saturday
NJPAC 3: PM
One Center Street
Newark, New Jersey
April 17-20 Thurs – Sun
IRIDIUM
New York, New York
(The Headhunters)
April 24 -26 Tues – Wed
Greenville, North Carolina
(Solo residency) Play with faculty
August 26 – 27
RED SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL
Israel
(Terri Lynn Carrington)
October 23-25 Thurs - Sat
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Residency
New York, New York
November 4 – 9 Tues – Sun
VILLAGE VANGUARD 9:00PM & 11:PM
New York, New York
*New dates will follow:
Click
here for geriallen.com.
Award-winning jazz pianist Geri Allen will perform a free and open concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
"Allen is currently one of the top jazz pianists in the world,” said Don Aliquo, coordinator of jazz studies and professor of saxophone at MTSU. “She has been at the forefront of some of the most creative jazz to be performed in recent years.”
The evening event will feature Allen performing a solo piano concert. She will also be conducting a master class in conjunction with the concert.
Click
here for the link on the MTSU Blog.
Geri Allen is finishing up a week-long residency at Harvard consisting of educational discussions, performances, and hands-on practice. The Music Department originally invited her to participate in the lecture with funding from the Blodgett Distinguished Artists’ Series, but the performer turned out to be in high demand.
Click
here for more info at the Harvard Crimson.
Caramoor Jazz Festival
Venetian Theater
Katonah, New York
Geri Allen Trio
Saturday July 28
4:00PM - 1 hour set
Click
here for more info.
JVC Jazz Festival
www.festivalproductions.net
The Studio Museum in Harlem
144 W. 125th St.
New York, N.Y.
Trio plus Tap Dancer
Wednesday June 27 7:30PM - one ninety minute set
Click
here for tickets and more information.
After taking the stage at Zankel Hall on Wednesday night, the pianist Geri Allen read a statement from a scrap of paper, claiming to be too nervous to extemporize. But her message was concise and clear: in celebration of Black History Month, the concert would begin with a traditional spiritual and end with an original composition dedicated to Rosa Parks.
Click
here for the full review.
"On Timeless Portraits and Dreams, Geri Allen expresses her religious faith as part of a broader vision of what jazz means to her. Backed by the peerless rhythm section of Ron Carter (bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums), Allen performs a diverse set that includes her intricate original compositions, spirituals, jazz standards by Charlie Parker and George Gershwin, even a selection from a Fellini film."
Click
here for the full review at All About Jazz.
Labels: music
Geri Allen Trio
Zankel Hall
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 8:30 PM
Geri Allen, Piano
Darryl Hall, Double Bass
Jimmy Cobb, Drums
with
Maurice Chestnut, Tap Dancer
The daring and imaginative pianist-composer Geri Allen and her trio both embrace and transcend the bounds of traditional jazz.
Click
here to buy tickets.
"Saturday afternoon's beautiful set by pianist Geri Allen as part of the Portland Jazz Festival proved that quiet jazz can have just as much -- perhaps even more -- power to take listeners to another place. In a 90-minute set, Allen, along with bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Jimmy Cobb, took several of her songs down to the faintest whisper, and the results were breathtaking. There's tremenous beauty to be found in stillness."
Click
here to read the full review at OregonLive.com.
"Carnegie Hall presents the Geri Allen Trio--with pianist Geri Allen, double bassist Darryl Hall, and drummer Jimmy Cobb--in Zankel Hall on Wednesday, February 28 at 8:30 p.m. The trio performs selections from Timeless Portraits and Dreams, Ms. Allen's 2006 critically-acclaimed release on the Telarc label. Timeless Portraits and Dreams--an amalgam of original compositions, jazz standards, and spirituals--is Ms. Allen's acknowledgement of the artistic, historical, and even spiritual connections that have made jazz the powerful cultural force it has become during the past century. This concert is presented in partnership with Festival Productions, Inc. as part of Carnegie Hall's The Shape of Jazz series."
Click
here for the full link at All About Jazz.
The International Association for Jazz Education has published a great promotional brochure for Geri Allen. It includes some fabulous quotes from Geri's career and her most recent recording, "Timeless Portraits and Dreams". Including this one:
"Almost an omnibus work of the connection of the history of black-ness and music, with two Miles vets [Ron Carter and Jimmy Cobb] at her side, she weaves a spell mixing originals with classics that gives you an Ellingtonian feel to the whole thing. A work like this could not have been crafted without deep soul issues that needed to be laid bare. Geri Allen has a sure footed artistic statement here that, at the same time, has no dust on it.” — Midwest Record Recap
Click
here to download the PDF.
Timeless Portraits And Dreams was chosen as a Soul-Patrol.com - Best of 2006!
"As is our tradition we will give you our best of picks in the following categories: Live Performances, Classic Soul, Jazz, Funk, Rock n' Roll, Southern Soul/Blues, Nu Soul, Singles, Compilations, Books, DVD's. It's our way of honoring the very best of what we have reviewed during the course of the year 2006."
Click
here to check out the Soul-patrol Best of 2006.
There’s a certain purity, perhaps innocence, about jazz that’s played without the bells and whistles of modern technology and untainted by commercial trappings. When that purity is combined with superb songwriting, you have the makings of a recording that will never sound old. So it is with Timeless Portraits and Dreams.
Click
here for the full review at All About Jazz.
Geri Allen Trio - The Bakery 10.18.06
Geri Allen Trio@The Bakery 10.18.06
By George W. Harris
Away from LA way too long, pianist Geri Allen showed the Bakery audience what it's been missing the past 2 years with an overwhelming performance that featured gospel-derived bop performed with alarming alacrity and fortitude.
Opening with music from her marvelous new disc "Timeless Portraits and Dreams", Ms Allen and her trio of Kenny Davis (bass) and Mark Johnson (drums) played the sentimental and spiritual "Oh Freedom/Melcezedik" with flexible dynamism and sympathetic interplay. On the bebop anthem "Ah-Leu-Cha", the band was hard driving, yet elastic. The snappy rhythmic brushwork by Johnson was so quick that it seemed like a slight of hand magic trick. Davis' nimble bass work bounced around Allen's inventive solos like bank shots in a shooting gallery. The clever call and response between all three on the freely funky "Our Lady" took the form of a musical relay race to see who could pass the baton the quickest, with all three reaching the bluesy finish line amazingly at the same time. Closing with a celebratory "In Appreciation", Ms Allen brough jazz to its church roots. With her piano supplying the down home gospel chords,Davis bringing the swaying rhythm to it's basic beat, and Johnson playing the cymbals like a Holiness tambourine choir, the band took the music to an ecstatic and volcanic climax. Allen's chords fed into Johnson's jaw dropping cross-handed drumming to create a cataclysmic finale that seemed timeless and eternally blissful. No one in the audience could believe the amount of energy being delivered from the stage. Such displays of musical vigor and spiritual vision are in short supply; Allen and her trio delivered the goods this warm autumn evening at the Bakery.
Geri Allen put her heart on the line Wednesday at the Jazz Bakery. Her heart, her imagination, her spirit and her capacity to enliven everything from soul-drenched spirituals to hard-edged post-bop.
Click
here for the full review from the LA Times .
If some Democratic lawmakers have their way, the African-American spiritual -- soulful rhythms born of African slaves -- may soon be officially recognized as a "national treasure" in the U.S. Congress.
Click
here for the full article at Black America Web .
"Cataloging the musicians who’ve flocked to Geri Allen has made me realize something: I have goddamn good taste. Either that, or Joseph Jarman, Oliver Lake, Arthur Blythe, James Newton, Andrew Cyrille, Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman, Betty Carter, Tony Williams and Charles Lloyd made dumb-ass choices. When I first saw Allen at CalArts some 15 years ago, she was a mind on fire, flinging herself into abstractions like the demon spawn of Cecil Taylor."
Click
here to read further at the LA Weekly ."
Detroit-born jazz pianist and singer Geri Allen says she owes as much to Motown as she does to jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Bill Evans for the inspirations for her sound. Her latest album is Timeless Portraits and Dreams -- musician and Day to Day contributor David Was has a review.
Click
here to listen to David Was' review of Timeless Portraits and Dreams.
In tribute to those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Walt Whitman Arts Center in Camden, NJ commissioned acclaimed pianist/composer Geri Allen to compose “For the Healing of the Nations,” a sacred jazz suite in two movements. Allen used the title song of her recently released Timeless Portraits and Dreams (Telarc) as the inspiration for the new suite.
For the Healing of the Nations will be premiered on Sunday, September 10 (3 pm) at the Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts’ Gordon Theater. Participating in this historic concert, with Geri Allen at the piano, will be a large orchestra including Oliver Lake, Craig Harris, Antoine Roney, Mark Johnson and other instrumentalists; the Creative Arts High School Students of Camden; the Afro Blue Vocal Ensemble of Howard University, and acclaimed vocalists Andy Bey, Nnenna Freelon and Mary Stallings.
Click
here for the full rundown at JazzPolice.com.
WORLD PREMIERE
"For the Healing of the Nations"
"A Sacred Jazz Suite"
For the Victims and Survivors of 9/11
Composed by Geri Allen - Ms. Allen at the Piano
With large orchestra including Oliver Lake; Craig Harris; Antoine Roney; John Blake; Akua Dixon; Kenny Davis; Mark Johnson; Jay Hoggard; Dwight Andrews; Patrice Williams, and Creative Arts High School Students of Camden.
Poetry by Sandra-Turner Barnes with Andy Bey; Nnenna Freelon; Mary Stallings The Afro Blue Vocal Ensemble of Howard University.
Sunday - September 10, 2006 - 3:00PM
Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts
The Gordon Theatre
350 N. Third Street
Camden, N.J. 08102
$25.00 Box Office: 856-225-2700
Click
here for Ruarts.org.
"For more than 20 years, Geri Allen has been an archetype of the new breed of contemporary jazz musician who is equally versed in the most modern, cutting-edge music as well as the most traditional.When she works with more experimental player-composericonoclasts like Ornette Coleman or Steve Coleman (no relation), she may break a few rules, but when she plays jazz standards and the American songbook, it's clear she knows how to follow those rules, and to be creative within them."
Click
here for the rest of the article at The New York Sun.
Jazz Listings by the New York Times
August 25, 2006
Jazz Listings
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
GERI ALLEN TRIO (Tonight through Sunday) “Timeless Portraits and Dreams” (Telarc), a soulfully earnest new album by the pianist Geri Allen, includes a number of different instrumental settings, including one with a vocal chorus. Ms. Allen is appearing in a basic but eminently rewarding lineup, with her longtime associate Darryl Hall on bass and the venerable Jimmy Cobb on drums. At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com; cover, $25 tonight and tomorrow, $20 Sunday, with a $10 minimum. (Nate Chinen)
Tavis Smiley on Timeless Portraits and Dreams
“Jazz pianist Geri Allen has taken the freedom of jazz and combined it with the cultural freedom movements that have paralleled the evolution of jazz itself.”
~ Tavis Smiley
As a gifted composer and improviser who stretches the envelope while respecting tradition, Geri Allen has already made an indelible mark on modern jazz. In particular, her new release, Timeless Portraits and Dreams (Telarc), seems a natural follow-up to Zodiac Suite Revisited by bringing together the spiritual roots of jazz and her trademark innovative compositions and arrangements. It was, in fact, Allen's intent to highlight the spiritual, historical and artistic connections that define jazz. This week marks the official release and celebration of this unique recording, with Geri Allen and her trio on stage at the Village Vanguard, August 22-27.
Click
here for the complete review of Timeless Portraits and Dreams at JazzPolice.com.
Live at the Village Vanguard
A Special Appearance by The Geri Allen Trio "Live" at the Village Vanguard w. Mr. Jimmy Cobb, Darryl Hall and surprise guests throughout the week.
A Week Long Celebration of her critically acclaimed new release. "Timeless Portraits and Dreams" featuring: Wallace Roney, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, George Shirley, Carmen Lundy, Donald Walden and Dwight Andrews and the Atlanta Jazz Chorus.
Aug.22-27 sets at 9:00 and 11:30 11th str and 7th ave NYC
Click
here to buy tickets online.
Timeless Portraits and Dreams
“Without ever being preachy, Allen mixes her keenly felt sense of the spiritual, historical consciousness and original artistic voice into this ambitious, always thoughtful, often beautiful recording that ranges far and wide in theme and style…Allen makes the album’s 15 pieces a seamless suite that's spiritual, swinging and never sanctimonious.”
~ Hartford Courant
“With a gorgeous glassy touch on the piano, and an excellent sense of tradition and future, Ms. Allen has put out a fresh and refreshing amalgam of modern jazz mixed with home grown gospel… The theme of heritage and spirituality tie the entire disc in perfectly. An entire bonus disc is used to give a dramatic reading of “Lift Every Voice.” Hopefully one day, all races will sing the song. A moving and rewarding release by the perennially underappreciated Ms. Allen.”
~ All About Jazz - LA
Renowned jazz pianist Geri Allen debuts her new Jazz Suite “For the Healing of the Nations” in a soulful and artistic 5 year tribute to the victims & survivors of September 11th at the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 3:00pm
[Camden, NJ, Friday, July 17, 2006] On September 11, 2001, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks upon the United States brought anger and fear into our hearts and the phrase “9/11” into our national lexicon. Five years later, initial fears have faded, but some of the anger and the painful wounds remain. Mindful of the important role music plays in personal and collective healing, the Walt Whitman Arts Center has commissioned renowned jazz pianist and composer Geri Allen to compose a fitting artistic tribute to the victims and survivors of the attack in an effort to help our communities heal from the overall effects of this national tragedy.
The result is For the Healing of the Nations, Ms. Allen’s restorative composition in two movements. Sunday, September 10th, 2006, it will have its world premiere at the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts. The event is presented in conjunction with the Walt Whitman Arts Center and the Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission.
Click
here for the Official Press Release.
Geri Allen continues off a banner year with what I feel is another monumental leap forward as her new release comes forth “Timeless Portraits and Dreams.” Strict and vibrant keyboard arrangements capturing the soul of the piece performed. In the performance of “Well Done” the added vocal of Carmen Lundy adds a restful peace to the cut reaching a new dimension. Allen’s finesse and angelic tones of the ivory exhibit stunning execution. Allen’s talent succeeds in separating her from the standard jazz pianist template molding a special example for the young pianists to strive for. A truly gifted pianist should be a world unto his or her own while under the influence of composing magic. This Allen has accomplished with over twenty years of pure ivory joy and again this year will please the masses.
Click
here for more reviews at eJazzNews.com.
The pianist Mark and Scott Batson made their New York debut during “The Hendrix Project” concert, playing two Geri Allen arrangements of Hendrix compositions. In December 1989 the Batson brothers joined Ms. Allen at New York’s Knitting Factory as the Triad piano trio. Their hour-long program rediscovered and extended the hendrix material, and its irresistible power had the audience whooping for joy.
Click
here for the review at UFOMusic.
NEW YORK (BlackNews. com)-Pianist Geri Allen's 2004 Telarc debut, "The Life of a Song," garnered well-deserved praise from all corners. The New York Times called it "her best in years," while JazzTimes called her compositions "fresh" and "distinctive." ICE compared her playing to that of Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, but suggested that her original compositions "were inspired by deeper, more personal connections."
These deep and personal connections are at the core of Geri Allen and her music. "Timeless Portraits and Dreams," her new Telarc release set for retail on Aug. 22, is far more than just another installment in her 20-year body of work. An amalgam of original compositions, jazz standards and spirituals, the album is Allen's acknowledgment and affirmation of the artistic, historical and even spiritual connections that have made jazz the powerful cultural force that it has become over the past century.
Click
here to read more at FrostIllustrated.com.
. . . the "headline" international act is US pianist/composer Geri Allen, a compelling and imaginative stylist. "Allen is … always finding new ways to take the music forward," says festival director Adrian Jackson.
Click
here to read further at TheAge.com.
GERI ALLEN TRIO - ITINERARY 2006/2007
GERI ALLEN TRIO
ITINERARY 2006
August 22-27 THE VILLAGE VANGUARD 9:30PM & 11:30PM
Tues.-Sun. 178 7TH Avenue South
New York, NY 10014
September 10 WALTWHITMAN’S ART CENTER TBA
Mon. Commission new suite for survivors
Of 9/11
Camden, NJ
September 15 SANTA BARBARA, CA TBA
(w/ Charles Lloyd)
September 15-16 MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL TBA
Fri.-Sat. (w/ Charles Lloyd)
Monterey, CA
September 29 & 30 JAZZ BRISTROL TBA
Fri.-Sat. St. Louis, MO
October 5 THE KENNEDY CENTER 6:PM-7:30PM
Thurs. Master Class
Washington, DC
October 6 THE KENNEDY CENTER TBA
Fri. (w/ Ron Carter & Mr. Cobb)
Terrace theatre
Washington, DC
October 18-22 THE JAZZ BAKERY 8:PM
Wed.-Sun. 3233 Helms Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90035
November 2 -8 AUSTRIAL TOUR TBA
Fri.-Wed. Wangaratta
Perth
Sydney
Wellington, New Zealand
November 10 SAN FRACISCO JAZZ FESTIVAL 8:PM
Friday Hearst Theatre
(with Mary Stallings)
2007
February 17 PORTLAND JAZZ FESTIVAL TBA
Sat. Portland, Oregon
February 18 PORTLAND JAZZ FESTIVAL TBA
Sun. (w/ Charles Lloyd)
Portland, Oregon
February 28 ZANKEL HALL @ Carnegie Hall 8:30PM
Wed. 881 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019-3210
Geri Allen's performances are only one reason why the International Jazz Festival in Jerusalem, which opens on June 19 and runs for four days, is emerging as an important and exciting event already in its first year. Thanks to fine choices of the festival's artistic director, Barry Davis, and the generous funding the festival received from several organizations, led by the Jerusalem Foundation, the city will host a selection of top jazz players, who would also be the highlight of a more established and well-known jazz festival.
Click
here for the full article at Haaretz.com.
Among the festival highlights is a performance by the superb American vocalist Nnenna Freelon, who just got nominated for her sixth Grammy award and who performs a traditional style of jazz singing. Also appearing is New York-based pianist Geri Allen, who has worked with a who's-who of the jazz world and will give two concerts, one solo and one with her trio.
Click
here to read the full article at the Jerusalem Post.
Next week, Israeli jazz fans will have an opportunity to learn about the Downbeat critic's mistake; they will have a chance to discover that Allen's music is full of emotion as well as logic and that its continuous flow does not come at the expense of its clarity. Allen will come to Jerusalem and perform twice in the new International Jazz Festival there running from June 19-22.
Click
here to read more of Ben Shalev's article on Geri in Israel and her revenge on the critics.
“Allen is true to the spirit of William's works, keeping their character intact while incorporating a modern perspective.” - Ken Dryden Coda Magazine
IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB
1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st)
NEW YORK, NY 10023
RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121, www.iridiumjazzclub.com
May 4-7
Sets at 8 & 10PM
Fri. & Sat. 3rd Sets 11:30PM
Click
here to go to All About Jazz.
NEW YORK (Billboard) - A contemporary of Duke Ellington, pianist Mary Lou Williams was not only jazz's premier female instrumentalist but also a brilliant, yet underappreciated composer. . .
Under the direction of pianist Geri Allen and featuring former Williams bandmates bassist Buster Williams and drummers Billy Hart and Andrew Cyrille, the Collective delivers "Zodiac Suite: Revisited." The title was released February 7 on Mary Records, Williams' own label revived by the Mary Lou Williams Foundation. . .
Click
here to read more of Dan Ouellette's article at Reuters.com.
When Geri Allen opened her Kimmel Center show Saturday night, the nascent weekend nor'easter raged outside, but the currents within the music of Allen and her quartet raged as well.
The Detroit-born pianist, representing the city of her birth in the center's "One Nation Under Jazz" series, introduced the spiritual "Oh, Freedom" with fast, harmonically complicated runs and stately declarations that revealed an intimate knowledge of classical piano.
Allen flew solo for several minutes, and by the time drummer Mark Johnson entered the fray with a nearly silent, sparklike touch of his crash/sizzle cymbal, the effect was startling, almost electronic. Allen, with the help of some great lighting, had created a mysterious, dark ambience.
Click
here to read the rest of Kevin L. Carter's review at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Geri Allen will be representing Detroit as part of the Kimmel's "One Nation Under Jazz" series, with her own quartet and special guest Ravi Coltrane. If Detroit's contribution to jazz history is destined to be first-rank hired hands, then Allen has done her hometown more than proud.
"When I am working as a sideperson, I am always trying to stay in balance with the intention of the composer or bandleader, remaining in service for the greater good. I try to get out of the way of the flow, so that only pure intention remains. As the bandleader, my goal remains the same; however, the direction is more personal and self-defined."
Click
here to read more at CityPaper.net.
The Mary Lou Williams Collective, an arm of the Mary Lou Williams Foundation, Inc., is devoted to the recording and performance of the music of the pianist and composer. Williams dedicated her Zodiac Suite to figures she respected, including Billie Holiday, Ben Webster, Duke Ellington, Ellis Larkins, Vic Dickenson, Leonard Feather, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Eddie Heywood, Bob Cranshaw, Frankie Newton, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Pianist Geri Allen interprets each movement from the Zodiac Suite with fiery passion and a relaxed swing that lifts you up out of your chair. The straightahead drive of bop powers each selection with authority, as Allen, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart stretch out with a relaxed feel for what Williams had envisioned. As with the original, several of the movements are performed by solo piano.
Click
here to read more of
Jim Santella's review at AllAboutJazz.com.
The jazz industry’s annual trade show hits Gotham.
By Howard Mandel
The circus comes to town! Officially, it’s the International Association for Jazz Education’s 33rd annual conference, which draws some 7000 registrants—equal to 57 capacity audiences at the Village Vanguard—from approximately 35 countries to midtown from January 11 through January 14. There will indeed be clowns, elephants and cotton candy.
And then there’s the music. Far be it from me to suggest one might easily crash nightly concerts in the ballrooms; in fact, guards will check registrations. So pay up, or forget about hearing Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto’s Latin jazz quintet or pianist Makoto Ozone’s Japanese big band, up ‘n’ coming Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke’s trio, the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate All-Stars directed by pianist Geri Allen . . .
Click
here to read more at NYPress.com.
Jan. 10, 2006--SESAC, the nation's fastest growing performing rights organization, honored its affiliated composers in the jazz field today with its second Jazz Awards Luncheon. This year's event, held at Manhattan's Strata, honored those jazz writers whose compositions achieved Top-5 status on the jazz charts from between July 1, 2004 through December 31, 2005.
SESAC Jazz Award Winners - January 10, 2006
Geri Allen
Publisher: Antoinette Music
Album: Life of a Song
Artist: Geri Allen
Click
here to read more about the SESAC awards.
BY MARK STRYKER
FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER
Think Detroit gets no respect? Well, in New York this week, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the cultural juggernaut led by Wynton Marsalis, is giving us our props, showcasing the remarkable jazz legacy that in the 1950s made Detroit the country's most prolific feeder of talent to the national jazz scene.
"Detroit: Motor City Jazz" will feature some of the city's most famous sons, including Ron Carter, Yusef Lateef, Geri Allen, Curtis Fuller, Charles McPherson and Marcus Belgrave performing with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Lincoln Center also has commissioned Lateef to write a long-form work for the jazz orchestra and Carter has written music for a small group that will pay homage to Detroit jazz history.
Click
here to read more at Detroit Free Press.
The SFGate unveils a February 7 Geri Allen release:
"Mary Lou Williams Collective, Zodiac Suite: Revisited (Mary Records). Pianist Geri Allen pays homage to one of the great jazz pianists and composers of all time by interpreting Williams' 12-part Zodiac Suite and "Intermission" (as well as Herbie Nichols' "The BeBop Waltz" and Allen's own "Thank You Madam") with the sterling assistance of bassist Buster Williams and drummers Billy Hart and Andrew Cyrille."
Click
here to read more about upcoming releases.
Geri Allen (born 1957) is a jazz pianist and music educator from Detroit, Michigan, who has worked with many of the greats of modern jazz, including Dave Holland, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Ornette Coleman, Betty Carter and Charles Lloyd. She cites her primary influences to be Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans.
Click
here to read more.
The Washington Post loves the combination of Geri Allen and Charles Lloyd on Jumping the Creek.
"Though the music is sometimes meditative, if not downright dark, anyone looking for proof that Lloyd remains one of the most restlessly creative artists in jazz won't have to listen to this quartet session for long. But then the saxophonist probably wouldn't continue to have the luxury of collaborating with pianist Geri Allen if he weren't still exploring ways to keep his music intriguing."
Click
here to read more at washingtonpost.com.
Too much jazz saxophone? Never. Lloyd has been playing since before Coltrane died, and he's seen jazz trends (psychedelic jazz-soul?) come and go. But he's been refining his vision for the last decade or so, and it includes talented pianist Geri Allen, who ably bridges old-school melody and the avant-garde. The original compositions reference a combination of post-bop, minimalism, European chamber jazz, early music and folk music from different cultures. Nothing I've heard this year is as startlingly beautiful as this album's opener, a cover of Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas."
Click
here to read more at tusconweekly.com.
