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Geri Allen

'Jazz Night In America' Remembers Artists We Lost In 2017

This year, we bade farewell to avant-garde pioneer Muhal Richard Abrams. Michael Hoefner/Wikipedia hide caption

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Michael Hoefner/Wikipedia

Jazz Night In America: The Radio Program

'Jazz Night In America' Remembers Artists We Lost In 2017

WBGO and Jazz At Lincoln Center

Friends of our program honor a handful of departed artists, celebrating their lives in an episode filled with insight, humor and plenty of music.

'Jazz Night In America' Remembers Artists We Lost In 2017

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Geri Allen, Pianist, Composer And Educator, Dies At 60

Geri Allen at the Village Vanguard in 2011. John Rogers for WBGO and NPR/JohnRogersNYC.com hide caption

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John Rogers for WBGO and NPR/JohnRogersNYC.com

The Record

Geri Allen, Pianist, Composer And Educator, Dies At 60

WBGO

The jazz pianist defied classification while steadfastly affirming her roots in the hard-bop tradition of her native Detroit. She died Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Geri Allen, Pianist, Composer And Educator, Dies At 60

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A Jazz Piano Christmas 2012

Geri Allen watches as Taylor Eigsti, Jason Moran and Ellis Marsalis, from left, perform in a round robin at A Jazz Piano Christmas 2012. Brendan Hoffman for NPR hide caption

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Brendan Hoffman for NPR

Concerts

A Jazz Piano Christmas 2012

NPR Music has an annual tradition: Invite some of the world's best jazz keyboard players to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, then set them loose on their favorite holiday tunes.

A Jazz Piano Christmas 2012

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Geri Allen And Timeline: Live In Concert

Geri Allen. John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com hide caption

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John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

The Checkout: Live

Geri Allen And Timeline: Live In Concert

WBGO

For the better part of three decades, the pianist has been widely recognized as one of the fiercest and most inventive pianists in improvised music. Here, she rides the rhythmic boost of a particularly kinetic quartet, featuring tap dancer Maurice Chestnut.

Geri Allen And Timeline: Live From 92Y Tribeca (full concert audio)

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Review

Music Reviews

Geri Allen's 'Timeless Portraits and Dreams'

Detroit-born jazz pianist and singer Geri Allen says she owes as much to Motown as she does to jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Bill Evans for the inspirations for her sound. Her latest album is Timeless Portraits and Dreams — musician and Day to Day contributor David Was has a review.

Geri Allen's 'Timeless Portraits and Dreams'

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Music Interviews

Geri Allen: A Life in Song... and Jazz

Pianist and composer Geri Allen knew she wanted to be a jazz musician after spending most of her childhood listening to her father's jazz albums. Allen tells NPR's Liane Hansen about The Life of a Song, her latest CD.

Geri Allen: A Life in Song... and Jazz

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The Best New Jazz Of 2010 (So Far)

Pianist Kris Davis has a delicate yet searching touch on Paradoxical Frog, a trio record with Tyshawn Sorey and Ingrid Laubrock. EyeShotJazz hide caption

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EyeShotJazz

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

The Best New Jazz Of 2010 (So Far)

While the most curious jazz album of 2010 features robots playing the works of guitar wizard Pat Metheny, we're not ready just yet to cave into our new jazz robot overlords. Outside of the robotic army, we pick the best new jazz albums 2010 has had to offer.

Mary Lou Williams Festival All-Star Quintet On JazzSet

Geri Allen (left) and Esperanza Spalding perform together at the Mary Lou Williams Festival in 2010. Margot Schulman/ hide caption

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Margot Schulman/

Concerts

Mary Lou Williams Festival All-Star Quintet On JazzSet

WBGO

For one night only, Geri Allen, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Grace Kelly and host Dee Dee Bridgewater united to pay tribute to the great jazz composer. Hear the quintet play original arrangements of Williams' tunes and jam on standards.

Mary Lou Williams Festival All-Star Quintet On JazzSet

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Geri Allen Trio: Live At The Village Vanguard
John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

Live At The Village Vanguard

Geri Allen Trio: Live At The Village Vanguard

WBGO

It's hard to think of anyone who embodies the dual challenges of tradition and innovation better than composer and pianist Geri Allen. She brought a trio to the club for a live video webcast.

Geri Allen Trio at the Village Vanguard

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Geri Allen On Piano Jazz

Geri Allen. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Studio Sessions

Geri Allen On Piano Jazz

Detroit-born pianist, composer and university professor Geri Allen is a musician of great depth and creativity. Allen's compositional skills are on display as she plays her own tune "Avatar," and she gets together with host Marian McPartland for Charlie Parker's "Another Hairdo."

Geri Allen On Piano Jazz

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'Generations In Jazz' Concert On Piano Jazz: Set III

Jonathan Batiste ends this set with "Kindergarten," a modern and hand-clapping take on the Louisiana roots of jazz. Ingrid Hertfelder/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Ingrid Hertfelder/Courtesy of the artist

Concerts

'Generations In Jazz' Concert On Piano Jazz: Set III

The Generations in Jazz celebration from Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola winds to a close, as Jonathan Batiste and Sullivan Fortner perform a piano duet of the theme from The Odd Couple. Plus, Geri Allen performs a Marian McPartland favorite, Thad Jones' beautiful "A Child Is Born."

'Generations In Jazz' Concert On Piano Jazz: Set III

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It's A Woman's World: Six Jazz Trailblazers

The Kennedy Center honors Mary Lou Williams every year with the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, which showcases today's brightest female jazz artists. William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress via flickr.com hide caption

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William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress via flickr.com

Take Five: By Theme

It's A Woman's World: Six Jazz Trailblazers

90.5 WESA

Because March 8 is International Women's Day, this week's Take Five celebrates six important women in jazz. Three exemplify classic artists who paved the way for women's work in a jazz world once dominated by men, while three are modern innovators.

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