Sweet sounds silenced

Geri Allen’s death is a loss to the city’s jazz scene

Anothergiant has passed from Pittsburgh’s jazz scene. Internationally renowned pianist Geri Allen, 60, succumbed to cancer Tuesday surroundedby loved ones in Philadelphia.

Ms. Allen, a Detroit native who embodied many styles that reflected the harmonic complexity of jazz’s multifaceted history over the course of 100 albums as a player and band leader, first came to Pittsburgh in the 1980s. In 1982, she graduated with a master’s degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh, where the jazz studies program director, Nathan Davis,served as her mentor.

When Mr. Davis stepped down from the position in 2013, Ms. Allen, who had established a sterling reputation and a spectacular back catalogue of recordings, was recruited from the road to take over from Mr. Davis. Like her former mentor and academic advisor, Ms. Allen brought enormous cultural cache to Pitt’s jazz program and was popular with students. By all accounts she was both a rigorous teacher and sympathetic mentor to aspiring musicians trying to find theirpath in the jazz world.

Ms. Allen first came to prominence in the 1980s because of her association with the M-Base Collective, a jazz movement dedicated to preserving and innovating black musical styles. Even then, she was considered an enormously inventive musician who was not afraid of working with the most improvisational musicians around.

For years, she worked with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Charlie Haden, both iconic musicians with roots in straight-ahead jazz and the avant garde. Ms. Allen also worked with two members of Miles Davis’ legendary quintet, Tony Williams and Ron Carter. She was deeply inspired by the creative and soulful piano work of Pittsburgh’s great piano legend Mary Lou Williams.

Ms. Allen was held in such high regard by the jazz world that she was one of the few pianists ever invited to perform with free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman because of her ability to play offof whatever he threw her way.

Her reputation as a jazz practitioner and track record as a teacher brought a level of acclaim to Pitt’s jazz program that will be difficult to replace. Her stature in the jazz world as well as her presence in Pittsburgh will be deeply missed.