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I don't suppose that every person who is into music will want to be a jazz musician because it is probably the hardest thing to do in the world.
- Sathima Bea Benjamin |
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 Thursday, 08 January 2009 |
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Geri Allen at the Jazz Bakery 10/18-22 |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 |
 On Wednesday, October 18th through Sunday, October 22nd the Jazz Bakery
presents the Geri Allen trio performing music from her new Telarc CD
Timeless Portraits and Dreams
(Click here
for a complete Jazz Police review.). The trio includes Kenny
Davis on bass and Mark Johnson on drums.
Geri Allen is one of many important jazz pianists to emerge from
Detroits's fertile music scene. Allen attended the famous magnet music
school, Cass Technical High School. After graduating with a degree in
jazz studies from Howard University in Washington, DC, she attended the
University of Pittsburgh where she earned a master’s degree in
ethnomusicology. Allen then moved to the jazz capital of the world, New
York City.
In addition to teaching as an Assistant Professor of Music at Howard
and garnering such honors as that university’s Distinguished Alumni
Award, the SESAC Special Achievement Award, and the Eubie Blake Award
from the Cultural Crossroads Center in New York, Allen has amassed a
stunning resume of musical collaborations. Since 1982, she has worked
with musicians as diverse as Charles Lloyd (with whom she’s been
touring for two years), Mal Waldron, Vernon Reid, Mino Cinelu, Mary
Wilson and The Supremes, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Oliver Lake and
Betty Carter, among many others.
However, it’s Allen’s spectacular writing that has fueled her emergence
as a jazz leader. The Nurturer, her first U.S. major label release
(Blue Note) was issued in 1992. In 1995, she was the first recipient of
Soul Train’s Lady of Soul Award for jazz album of the year for
Twenty-One, featuring Tony Williams and Ron Carter. Allen’s excellent
musicianship was internationally recognized in 1996 when she was the
first woman to win the coveted Danish Jazzpar prize. That same year,
she participated in Ornette Coleman’s Sound Museum projects and also
played the role of Mary Lou Williams in Robert Altman’s film Kansas
City. On her 1998 recording, The Gathering (Verve), Allen proved
herself equally adept in a larger group context.
Now married (to trumpeter Wallace Roney), a mother, composer, producer,
educator and band leader, Allen’s ambitions remain the same as they
were when she grew up in Detroit. “It’s important to be in the moment,”
she says. “I’m still inspired by dance and movement, and through my
music I want to connect with people to maintain a continuity between
all generations.”
Timeless Portraits and Dreams
contains a
mix of Original Compositions ("Our Lady" - Allen's sensitive portrait
of Billie Holiday & "In Real Time" written with her husband Wallace
Roney), Jazz Standards (Charlie Parker's "Ah-leu-cha" and Lil Hardin
Armstrong's "Just for a Thrill"), and Spirituals ("Lift Every Voice and
Sing", "Well Done", and Mary Lou Williams' "I Have a Dream"), "Timeless
Portraits and Dreams" is Geri Allen's affirmation of the artistic,
historical, and spiritual connections that have made Jazz the cultural
force it is today.
Click here
for a complete Jazz Police review. Timeless
Portraits and Dreams
features: Geri Allen, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums,
Wallace Roney, trumpet; Donald Walden, tenor saxophone, Carmen Lundy,
vocalist, George Shirley, operatic tenor and the Atlanta Jazz Chorus
directed by Dwight Andrews
Reserve your spot now by calling the Jazz Bakery reservation line:
(310) 271-9039.
For more details, go to our website:
www.jazzbakery.org
Shows start at 8:00 & 9:30 PM, Tickets: $30 on Friday Oct 20 and
Saturday Oct 21, $25 all other nights and half-price for students 21
and under.
For more info visit : www.geriallen.com
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