Geri Allen

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.

A product of the great jazz tradition of Detroit, Geri Allen studied with Marcus Belgrave, earned a degree in jazz studies at Howard University in Washington, DC (where she met husband, trumpeter Wallace Roney), a master’s degree in ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh, and studied jazz piano in New York with the great Kenny Barron. In the 1980s she was a member of the M-Base Collective; in the early 90s she worked with Ornette Coleman. She has since released a series of acclaimed recordings as leader (including 2004’s Life of a Song with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette and, earlier this year, Zodiac Suite Revisited with the Mary Lou Williams Collective) while teaching at Howard University. In 1996 she became the first woman to be awarded the Jazzpar Prize in Denmark, the only international jazz award.

Andy Bey

A child prodigy who appeared at the Apollo Theater and with Louis Jordan (at age12), Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington before he turned 18, Newark native Andy Bey has been performing for over 50 years, mostly under the radar screen until several recent recordings brought him greater acclaim and attention. Noted Ben Ratliffe in the New York Times, “when he enters a song, he makes it deluxe, decking it out with cushions and tapestries...." Also in the Times, James Gavin noted that “he turns songs into prayer like reveries ... built on sounds woven into hypnotic lines in which the rhythm feels suspended in air.”

Nnenna Freelon © Andera Canter

Of Mary Stallings, the New York Times wrote, “Perhaps the best jazz singer alive today is a woman almost everybody seems to have missed. Her name is Mary Stallings ...” Making her first recording at age 11, by high school Mary was singing with the Louis Jordan Tympani Five, and soon was touring the world in the company of Count Basie, Joe Williams, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald. She took some time out in the 70s but came back as an active performer and recording artist. In 2005, she released Remember Love, featuring Geri Allen on piano and as producer.

For information about the world premiere performance of For the Healing of the Nations on Sunday, September 10 (3 pm) at the Gordon Theater, Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts, call 856-225-2700. The Gordon Theater is located at 350 N. Third Street in Camden, NJ. Tickets $25.