Geri Allen And Timeline: Live In Concert

For the better part of three decades, pianist Geri Allen has been widely recognized as one of the fiercest and most inventive pianists in improvised music. Her projects have a way of being historically informed and on the leading edge at once, and her current touring quartet, Timeline, is no exception. With longtime bassist Kenny Davis and the inventive young drummer Kassa Overall, Allen adds the percussive wildcard of tap dancer Maurice Chestnut. The band harkens back to jazz traditions past; at the same time, it belongs in the swimming-in-rhythm present.

In a twin bill with The Cookers, Geri Allen and Timeline performed at the 92Y Tribeca in downtown New York City as part of the WBGO concert series The Checkout: Live. WBGO and NPR Music present a live radio broadcast and online video webcast, heard here. For the full concert archive of this series, visit npr.org/checkoutlive.

Set List

• "Drummer's Song" (Allen)
• "Another Hairdo" (Parker)
• "Unconditional Love" (Carrington)
• "Philly Joe" (Allen) [video highlight]
• "Christmas Medley: Silent Night/A Child Is Born/Angels We Have Heard On High" (Gruber/Jones/Traditional)

Personnel

• Geri Allen, piano
• Kenny Davis, bass
• Kassa Overall, drums
• Maurice Chestnut, tap dance

Credits

Producer and Host: Josh Jackson; Audio Engineer: David Tallacksen; Production Assistant: Michael Downes; Video Director: Stew Nachmias. Recorded Dec. 12, 2012 at 92Y Tribeca in New York, N.Y. Photo by John Rogers for NPR.