Jazz Program
JAZZ PIANIST/COMPOSER GERI ALLEN IN RESIDENCE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Award-winning jazz pianist/composer Geri Allen, whose musicianship has been praised as “a gorgeous glassy touch on the
piano, and an excellent sense of tradition and future” (All About Jazz, LA), was in residence at Harvard University December 7-8, 2007. Sponsored by Harvard’s Department of Music through its Blodgett Distinguished Artist Series and the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA), Allen’s residency comprised several performances and educational events, including:
Friday, December 7 at 4 pm: “A Musical Conversation with Geri Allen,” moderated by Tom Everett, Director, Harvard Jazz Bands. A discussion on Allen’s career and creative process, with music examples, presented by Learning From Performers (OFA). Lowell Hall, Kirkland and Oxford Streets.
Friday, December 7 at 8 pm: Geri Allen and Her Trio in Concert, presented by the Department of Music’s Blodgett Distinguished Artists Series. Geri Allen, piano, Kenny Davis, bass, Kassa Overall, drums. John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, Music Building.
Saturday, December 8 at 8 pm: “A Tribute to Mary Lou Williams,” concert featuring the Harvard Jazz Bands with guest artist Geri Allen, performing works by pioneering pianist, composer and arranger Williams (1910-1981); also works by Allen. Lowell Hall, Kirkland and Oxford Streets.
During her Harvard visit Allen also spoke at a class, Literature and Arts B-82—“Sayin’ Something: Jazz as Sound, Sensibility, and Social Dialogue,” taught by Department of Music Chair Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African-American Music; and participatde in an assembly at the Roland Hayes School in Roxbury sponsored by Harvard’s Department of African and African American Studies.
Geri Allen is a celebrated, award-winning pianist/composer who performs for enthusiastic audiences worldwide. Since 1982, she has recorded or performed with artists as diverse as Charles Lloyd (with whom she has toured for several years), Mal Waldron, Sir Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony, Vernon Reid, Tony Williams, Clark Terry, George Shirley, Ron Carter, Lee Konitz, Me'Shell Ndegelocello, Marian McPartland, Dewey Redman, Dave Holland, Mary Wilson and The Supremes, Jack De Johnette, Betty Carter, Bill Cosby, Charlie Haden, Hal Wilner, Mino Cinelu, Ruth Brown, Oliver Lake, Marianne Faithful, Wayne Shorter, Joan Rivers, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Bobby Hutcherson, Chico Hamilton, and Kenny Clarke among many others. She has released a number of major recordings under her own name some of which include, Twenty One, Eyes in the Back Of Your Head, Maroons, The Gathering and most recently, the ambitious, critically acclaimed Telarc double CD Geri Allen: Timeless Portraits and Dreams.
Allen has been the recipient of numerous recent honors, including but not limited to the Keys to the City of Detroit and the City of Cleveland, the Benny Golson Award from Howard University, and the African American Classical Music Award from Spelman College. Allen also distinguished herself as the first woman and youngest person to win the Danish Jazzpar Prize. A Detroit native, and a graduate of Detroit's famous Magnet Music School, Cass Technical High School, Allen graduated from Howard University, where she also served as Assistant Professor of Music. During that period the University honored her with both the Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Professor Awards. Allen, who is presently Associate Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan, holds a Master's Degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied with Dr. Nathan Davis, Dr. K. Nketia, John Blacking, and Dr. Bell Yung.
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Jazz Programs at Harvard University were initiated in 1971 by Director of Bands Tom Everett and have developed with the Office for the Arts at Harvard since 1976. Artists such as Benny Carter, Illinois Jacquet, John Lewis, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, Gerry Mulligan, Bill Evans, Randy Weston, Lester Bowie, Andrew Hill, Carla Bley, and Steve Lacy have participated. The purpose is to honor artists who have made a significant contribution to jazz and encourage their creativity in a new environment, share their mastery with students, and bring their music to the public.
The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA), established in 1973, supports student engagement in the arts and serves the University in its commitment to the arts. Through its programs and services, the OFA fosters student art making, connects students to accomplished artists, integrates the arts into university life, and partners with local, national and international constituencies. For more information, call
