Pitt director of jazz studies
Geri Allen, a world-re-n owned jazz pianist who had been serving as the University of Pittsburgh’ s director of jazz studies, died Tuesday. She was 60. Ms. Allen succumbed to cancer at the Cancer Treat-ment Centers of America at Eastern Regional Medi-cal Center in Philadelphia, where she was surrounded by family members.
Ms. Allen came to Pitt in 2013 with a vision of shap-ing the university’ s jazz studies program. She took over after former director Nathan Davis retired.
According to colleagues, she was never over bearing in her approach. A modest woman who listened to others, Ms. Allen saw qual-ities in people that they could not always see in themselves.
“Geri was a magnifi-cent jazz pianist who was warm and kind and made people believe they could do what she knew they could do ,” said Kathy Humphrey, Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for en-gagement and chief of staff .“Her spirit was just so giving and just so gra-cious for the amount of tal-ent that she had .”
Those characteristics endeared Ms. Allen to stu-dents and colleagues alike. Ms. Humphrey said she wasn’t a jazz lover before she met Ms. Allen. But when Ms. Allen asked her to sing a jazz song at Pitt’ s annual jazz seminar, Ms. Humphrey couldn’t refuse.
“I was like ,‘ Geri, I don’t sing jazz .’” Ms. Humphrey recalled .“And she’s like, ‘I’ve got this song that I know you can do, I want you to do it .’
I thought ,‘ This is not what I do.’” Ms. Allen persuaded Ms. Humphrey to sing the song —“A Flower is a Love-some Thing ,” by Billy St ray horn—and it went well.
“She could make you be-lieve you could do what even you didn’t think you could do, and she would prove it to you that you could do it ,” Ms. Hum- phrey said .“I think that’s the true mark of a teacher—to help you understand what your capabilities are and what you’ re able todo.” Ms. Allen was already an accomplished jazz pia-nist by the time she arrived at Pitt.
According to her biog-raphy on the university’ s website, she received the first Lady of Soul award for jazz and she was the first woman and youngest person to win the Danish “Jazz Par Prize .”
Her work was featured in the Lisa Gay Hamilton Pe-a body Award-winning film ,“Be ah: A Black Woman Speaks ,” and on Andy Bey's Grammy-nominated “American Song .”
Ms. Allen was nomi-nated in 2015 for a Grammy in the Best His-torical Album category for co-producing “The Com-plete Concert by the Sea,” an expanded version of jazz pianist Er roll Garner’s “Concert by the Sea .” “The one things he told me was that she lived to play jazz, to play, to inter-act, to be creative ,” said Deane Root, chairman of Pitt’s department of mu-sic.
“And that’s what she needed to survive .” Mr. Root, who was Ms. Allen’s faculty mentor since she began at Pitt, said a memorial for Ms. Allen maybe held in the fall, and the university will dedicate its annual Jazz Seminar and Concert to her.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete late Tuesday.