Geri Allen

小簡(jiǎn)介
1957年生于密西根州的她，是后咆勃時(shí)期的重要女鋼琴家。Geri Allen的音樂(lè)風(fēng)格多樣，重要的爵士派別都可在她的音樂(lè)中聽(tīng)到影子，此外放克、節(jié)奏藍(lán)調(diào)、新時(shí)代音樂(lè)的素材她也不避諱地融合使用，因此形成她前衛(wèi)大膽的樂(lè)風(fēng)。影響她樂(lè)風(fēng)甚鉅的大師，首推塞隆尼斯孟克以及艾瑞克杜菲兩人。比起過(guò)去她在Blue Note的表現(xiàn)，Geri Allen個(gè)人特殊氣質(zhì)仍在，但是音樂(lè)織體更為豐富、更炫麗。也許是自覺(jué)、也許是唱片公司的意見(jiàn)，Geri Allen在此不光是強(qiáng)調(diào)音樂(lè)的深度或表達(dá)，更在乎聽(tīng)者的感受。
by Chris Kelsey
Geri Allen is the quintessence of what a late-90s mainstream jazz musician should be. Well versed in a variety of modern jazz styles, from bop to free, Allen steers a middle course in her own music, speaking in a cultivated and moderately distinctive voice, respectful of, but not overly impressed with the doctrine of conservatism that rules the scene at the end of jazzs first century. There is little conceptually that separates her from her most obvious models — Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans primary among them — yet Allen plays with a spontaneity and melodic gift that greatly transcends rote imitation. Her improvisational style is at various times both spacious and dense, rubato and swinging, blithe and percussive. Its a genuinely expressive, personal voice; her music is an amalgam — honestly conceived, intelligently accessible, and well within the bounds of what is popularly expected from a jazz musician of her generation.
Allen received her early jazz education at the famed Cass Technical High School in Detroit, where her mentor was the highly regarded trumpeter/teacher Marcus Belgrave. In 1979, Allen earned her bachelors degree in jazz studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C. After graduation, she moved to New York City, where she studied with the veteran bop pianist Kenny Barron. From there, at the behest of the jazz educator Nathan Davis, Allen attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning a masters degree in ethnomusicology, returning to New York in 1982. In the mid-80s, Allen formed an association with the Brooklyn MBase crowd that surrounded alto saxophonist Steve Coleman. Allen played on several of Colemans albums, including his first, 1985s Motherland Pulse. Allens own first album, The Printmakers, with Anthony Cox and Andrew Cyrille, from a year earlier, showcased the pianists more avant-garde tendencies. In 1988 came perhaps her first mature group statement, Etude, a cooperative trio effort with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. Allens loose-limbed lyricism and off-center linearity are perfectly complemented by the innate tunefulness of bassist Haden and the unerring timbral sense of drummer Motian. In the 90s, Allen signed first with Blue Note, then Verve. Her subsequent records placed her in ever more conventional contexts, supported by the cream of the mainstream young lion crop. As a soloist, however, Allen continued to push the improvisational envelope, as evidenced by Sound Museum, a 1996 recording made under the leadership of Ornette Coleman. The solo Gathering followed in 1998. Allen was named the top Talent Deserving Wider Recognition among pianists in the 1993 and 1994 Down Beat magazine Critics Polls. Her significant collaborators have included saxophonists Oliver Lake, Arthur Blythe, and Julius Hemphill, trumpeter Lester Bowie, and singer Betty Carter.