Geri Allen

Geri Antoinette Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. She taught at the University of Michigan and 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 seven, 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. For 10 years she taught jazz and improvisational studies at the University of Michigan, and 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

As leader/co-leader
Main sources:

As sidewoman
Main source:

With Franco Ambrosetti
 * Movies (Enja, 1987) – rec. 1986
 * Movies Too (Enja, 1988)

With The Batson Brothers
 * Three Pianos for Jimi (Douglas, 1998)

With Betty Carter
 * Droppin' Things (Verve, 1990) – live
 * Feed the Fire (Verve, 1994) – live rec. 1983
 * The Music Never Stops (Blue Engine, 2019) – live

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) – 1 track

With Charlie Haden
 * 1987: Etudes (Soul Note, 1988)
 * 1989: The Montreal Tapes: with Geri Allen and Paul Motian (Verve, 1997)
 * 1989: The Montreal Tapes: Liberation Music Orchestra (Verve, 1999)

With Oliver Lake
 * Expandable Language (Black Saint, 1984)
 * Otherside (Gramavision, 1988)
 * Talkin' Stick (Passin' Thru, 2000)

With Charles Lloyd
 * Lift Every Voice (ECM, 2002)
 * Jumping the Creek (ECM, 2005) – rec. 2004

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 Trio 3 (Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman & Andrew Cyrille)
 * At This Time (Intakt, 2009)
 * Celebrating Mary Lou Williams–Live at Birdland New York (Intakt, 2011)

With others
 * Cecil Brooks III, The Collective (Muse, 1989)
 * Roy Brooks, Duet in Detroit (Enja, 1993) – rec. 1989
 * Buddy Collette, Flute Talk with James Newton (Soul Note, 1988)
 * Craig Handy, Reflections in Change (Sirocco Music, 1999)
 * Frank Lowe, Decision in Paradise (Soul Note, 1984)
 * Paul Motian, Monk in Motian (JMT, 1988)
 * Greg Osby, Mindgames (JMT, 1988)
 * Dewey Redman, Living on the Edge (Black Saint, 1989)
 * Gregory Charles Royal, Dream Come True (GCR, 1979) – reissued (Celeste (Japan), 2008)
 * Woody Shaw, Bemsha Swing (Blue Note, 1997) – rec. 1986
 * John Stubblefield, Bushman Song (Enja, 1986)
 * Gary Thomas, By Any Means Necessary (JMT, 1989)
 * Ernie Watts, Unity (JVC, 1995)
 * The Mary Lou Williams Collective, Zodiac Suite: Revisited (Mary, 2006)
 * Buster Williams, Houdini (Sirocco Music, 2001) – rec. 2000
 * Reggie Workman, Cerebral Caverns (Postcards, 1995)
 * V.A., 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.