January 2006

Piano great Geri Allen
Listen to "Lush Life " mp3 (requires audio plugin)
Listen to "Piano Boogie " mp3 (requires audio plugin)

Geri Allen

Geri Allen joined the School of Music in 2005 as an assistant professor of jazz piano in the Department of Jazz and Improvisation. The Life of a Song (Telarc, 2004, $15.99) is primarily a trio date with fellow jazz stars bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette.

Allen grew up in Detroit, came under the tutelage of trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and graduated form Cass Technical High School. She got her bachelor's in jazz piano from Howard University in 1979, went on to study with piano great Kenny Barron in New York, then entered the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned a master's degree in ethnomusicology.

She has composed music for two films, Beah: a Black Woman Speaks and Sex and the Green Card (both 2003), and has appeared in two Robert Altman films of 1996, Kansas City and Jazz '34 . She portrayed pianist Mary Lou Williams in the first film and played herself in the second. Her exuberant performances on Kansas City After Dark (Verve, 1997) made that CD a prize throughout the jazz world.

In addition to the Billy Strayhorn classic "Lush Life," The Life of a Song contains eight Allen compositions. "In Appreciation: a Celebration Song" is her tribute to fellow-Detroiter, the late Rosa Parks. Allen also pays homage to the Motor City in two other originals: "The Experiment Movement," a tribute to dancer/choreographer Jacquelyn Hillsman, and "Black Bottom." Allen says she "wanted to honor the memory of Black Bottom, because it's not there anymore. There is a Black Bottom in every city."

Allen has recently toured with Ornette Coleman's new quartet and she accompanied the late vocalist Betty Carter (resulting in the CD Feed the Fire) with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland). Last but not least, she often performs in the quintet of trumpeter Wallace Roney, her husband and former Howard University schoolmate.

Allen's stellar career includes her recognition in 1996 as the first woman to win the coveted Danish Jazzpar prize. She has worked with musicians as diverse as Charles Lloyd (with whom she toured for several years), Mal Waldron, Vernon Reid, Mino Cinelu, Mary Wilson and the Supremes, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Oliver Lake and Betty Carter, among many others. Her several recordings also include The Nurturer and Twenty-One, featuring Tony Williams and Ron Carter.