Geri Allen

Geri Antoinette Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and recording artist. In addition to her career as a performer and bandleader, Allen was an associate professor of music and the director of the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Early life and education

Allen was born in Pontiac, Michigan, on June 12, 1957, and grew up in Detroit. "Her father, Mount Allen Jr, was a school principal, her mother, Barbara, a government administrator in the defence industry." Allen was educated in Detroit Public Schools. She started playing the piano at the age of 7, and settled on becoming a jazz pianist in her early teens.

Allen graduated from Howard University's jazz studies program in 1979. She then continued her studies: with pianist Kenny Barron in New York; and at the University of Pittsburgh, where she completed a master's degree in ethnomusicology in 1982. After this, she returned to New York.

Later life and career

Allen became involved in the M-Base collective in New York. Her recording debut as a leader was in 1984, resulting in The Printmakers. This trio album, with bassist Anthony Cox and drummer Andrew Cyrille, also featured some of Allen's compositions.

Allen married trumpeter Wallace Roney in 1995. They had a daughter and a son; the marriage ended in divorce. Allen was awarded the Jazzpar Prize in 1996. In the same year, she recorded two albums with Ornette Coleman: Sound Museum: Hidden Man and Sound Museum: Three Women.

In 2006, Allen composed "For the Healing of the Nations", a suite written in tribute to the victims and survivors of the September 11 attacks. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008.

Allen was a longtime resident of Montclair, New Jersey. She became director of the jazz studies program at the University of Pittsburgh in 2013.

Allen died on June 27, 2017, two weeks after her 60th birthday, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after suffering from cancer.

Awards

• Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee, 2014
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 2008
• African American Classical Music Award from Spelman College, 2007
• The Benny Golson Jazz Master Award, 2005
• Distinguished Alumni Award from Howard, 1996
• Danish Jazzpar Prize (first woman recipient), 1996
• Soul Train's Lady of Soul Award (first recipient) for jazz album of the year for Twenty-One, 1995

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Main sources:

As sidewoman

Main source:

With Franco Ambrosetti

• Movies (Enja, 1987)
• Movies Too (Enja, 1988)

With Cecil Brooks III

• The Collective (Muse, 1989)

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 Craig Handy

• Reflections in Change (Sirocco Music, 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)

With Wallace Roney

• Munchin' (Muse, 1993)
• Crunchin' (Muse, 1993)
• Mistérios (Warner Bros., 1994)
• Village (Warner Bros., 1997)
• No Room for Argument (Stretch, 2000)
• Prototype (HighNote, 2004)
• Mystikal (HighNote, 2005)
• Jazz (Highnote, 2007)

With Gregory Charles Royal

• 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 Ernie Watts

• Unity (JVC, 1995)

With the Mary Lou Williams Collective

• Zodiac Suite: Revisited (Mary, 2006)

With "Various"

• Kansas City (A Robert Altman Film, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Verve, 1996)

Filmography

Geri Allen portrays jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams and performs with the jazz band in the Robert Altman film Kansas City.