Customer Reviews

Life of a Song

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Having listened to Geri Allen for decades, this is one of her finest works to date. Her technical abilities allow her to express, musically and artistically, what she is trying to communicate to the listener. The sonorities, colors and hues that she coaxes from her chord voicings are simply put, beautiful with a complex simplicity. She is the master chef at the piano, adding just the right spice at the right time on the classic Lush Life. This music is mature yet playful and exciting. While this CD is done in the traditional jazz trio format (piano, bass and drum), you will not miss the often "over produced" recordings which so many less talented artists have on the market today. Geri says it all in her own style and in her own unique way. She has employed the assistance of two of the finest musicians (Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette) on this musical journey. This is an outstanding collection of music. I believe that it will produce compositions which will go on to become standards and classic jazz pieces that will be enjoyed for generations to come. This is a must have CD for any real collection.
Billy Phillips

This recording by Geri Allen is a fine example of her wonderful musicianship. With strong support from Jack DeJohnnette and Dave Holland, it really has a lot of interesting interplay with may twists and turns. I found it a bit more accessible than her last recording. I would recommend this to anyone who really enjoys great jazz piano playing!

I love jazz piano trio; Jarret, Pilc, Moran, Mehldau, Kimbrough, Iyer, etc. I was late to discover Geri Allen, and man am I glad I found her. This is a wonderfull CD, original, inventive, nuanced, driving, beautifull. And, (oddly I've seen this writen as a criticism), this music is surpsingly accessible. I can play this CD for my family, whereas they run out of the room with some of the stuff I listen to. Beside her piano, the bass and drum playing is as good as it gets; there is some bass stuff here that makes me scream. This CD shines from beginning to end! As an extra plus, the recording sounds wonderfull too.

I'm sorry it took me so long to find her, but now I'm a huge fan. In fact, I bought a Charles Lloyd CD "Jumping the Creek" because Geri was playing on it, and I had to hear more of her. Well, what a huge treat that CD is, and because if her I discovered another new favorite!

This is a must have.

I bought this album on a whim, with no prior knowledge of Geri Allen or the other musicians. Wow! What an outstanding example of modern jazz piano stylings! I'll definately be buying more of Ms. Allen's albums.

There simply don't exist enough superlatives to shower upon this trio, which straight away asserts itself as far from typical in spite of the ubiquity of its participants (especially DeJohnette and Holland). Mrs. Allen suffers only from her chronological placement in a generation of Young Lions, but in no way from any stylistic lapses into the safe-havens towards which even some of that generation's finest occasionally wander. Her nearest point of comparison might be with some of both the more earthy and the more impressionistic aspects of Keith Jarrett, but never does this similitude in place for long enough nor executed literally enough to be counted as imitation. One has to wonder at the machinations behind its unavailability at Amazon's mp3 store as of yet, but at least it remains in print as a CD.