GERI ALLEN

Composer, jazz pianist (1957-2017)

Jazz pianist Geri Allen recorded around 20 albums under her own name and played with a vast array of talent – Ornette Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Charlie Haden, Laurie Anderson and McCoy Tyner included – but she was equally well known as a leading educator. She taught at the University Of Michigan for 10 years and, most recently, had been Director Of Jazz Studies at the University Of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Allen’s solo career began with 1985’s The Printmakers, before moving on to Blue Note and recording a series of collaborative, mostly improvisational albums during the ’90s. She was also part of the ACS Trio, with Terri Lyne Carrington and Esperanza Spalding. “Geri was a divine prism of pure heart and artistry,” said Spalding in tribute, “beaming new colour spectrums out of plain black-andwhite keys.”