Jazz pianist who appeared with music greats, dies

Geri Allen, a musically adventurous jazz pianist and bandleader who performed with the leading musicians of her time, from Ornette Coleman to Wayne Shorter, and who furthered the careers of other women in jazz, died Tuesday at a hospital in Philadelphia. She was 60.

The cause was cancer. Her death was announced by the University of Pittsburgh, where she directed the jazz studies program.

In a career spanning more than 35 years, Ms. Allen was known for her eclectic approach to music, exploring the traditions of jazz and reaching into some of its more arcane byways. She portrayed pianist Mary Lou Williams in the 1996 Robert Altman film “Kansas City,” set in the 1930s, but she also dipped into a variety of other styles, from the Motown music of her native Detroit to electronic music and classical works.

“I like to look at the piano as a drum,” she said in a 1992 interview with the Contemporary Musicians reference guide, “as 88 drums with pitch. Rhythm is the core of my music.”

Ms. Allen was considered one of the leading pianists of her generation and, as Los Angeles Times critic Don Heckman wrote in 2006, “long overdue for the sort of recognition that accrues for the top level of jazz performers.”

In the 1980s, Ms. Allen toured with Mary Wilson, a onetime member of the Supremes from whom she said she borrowed fashion ideas. A decade later, Ms. Allen accompanied another singer from Detroit, jazz vocalist Betty Carter, and performed on Carter’s Grammy Award-winning album “Droppin’ Things.”

Ms. Allen released more than 20 albums as a bandleader, many of which featured her own compositions, and she collaborated on recordings with rock guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour and jazz masters including bassists Ron Carter, Charlie Haden and Dave Holland, and drummers Paul Motian and Jimmy Cobb.

In 1996 she became the first acoustic pianist in almost 40 years to record with Coleman, the innovative saxophonist. Their work was documented on two albums, “Sound Museum: Hidden Man” and “Sound Museum: Three Women.”

“Why can’t I explore the whole universe of music that’s available to me?” Ms. Allen told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. “There’s a point of view that suggests that you can do something much better if you focus on one thing, but it’s my nature to be curious, and to go back and forth between different contexts, such as playing solo, trio and large groups, or using electronic stuff.”

Her marriage to trumpeter Wallace Roney ended in divorce. Survivors include three children; her father; and a brother.

BRANDON WU / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST 2010 Geri Allen was considered one of the leading pianists of her generation.