Timeless Portraits & Dreams (Bonus CD)

Geri Allen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B000GIWGZ8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,193 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Oh Freedom

2. Melchezedik

3. Portraits And Dreams

4. Well Done - Carmen Lundy

5. La Strada

6. I Have A Dream - George Shirley

7. Nearly

8. In Real Time - Wallace Roney

9. Embraceable You

10. Ah-Leu-Cha

11. Just For A Thrill

12. Our Lady (For Billie Holiday) - Wallace Roney

13. Timeless Portraits And Dreams - Carmen Lundy

14. Portraits And Dreams (Reprise)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Geri Allen's earlier 2006 album, Zodiac Suite: Revisited, a fine effort recorded under the banner of the Mary Lou Williams Collective, celebrated the legendary pianist by rescuing one of her major works from obscurity. On Timeless Portraits and Dreams Allen widens her scope, as she is wont to do, to bridge jazz, spirituals, and classical music. She performs lyrical solo pieces and jazz classics, demonstrates the art of the trio with Miles Davis alumni Ron Carter and Jimmy Cobb, backs the exceptional jazz singer Carmen Lundy with a vocal chorus, and features classical tenor George Shirley with the chorus on "I Have a Dream," written by Williams after Martin Luther King's assassination. Most projects like this have a tendency to veer off in different directions, but "Timeless Portraits and Dreams" hangs together beautifully, rooted in Allen's humanistic aims as a writer and musician and her comfort in varied settings. The seamlessly programmed CD also features her husband, trumpeter Wallace Roney, on an upbeat tribute to Billie Holiday, "Our Lady." On a single-song bonus disc, Shirley performs the song regarded as the black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." --Lloyd Sachs

Product Description

Pianist Geri Allen’s 2004 Telarc debut, The Life of a Song, garnered well-deserved praise from all corners. The New York Times called it �"her best in years,�" while JazzTimes called her compositions �"fresh�" and �"distinctive.�" ICE compared her playing to that of Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, but suggested that her original compositions �"were inspired by deeper, more personal connections.�"

These deep and personal connections are at the core of Geri Allen and her music. Timeless Portraits and Dreams, her new Telarc release set for retail on August 22, 2006, is far more than just another installment in her twenty-year body of work. An amalgam of original compositions, jazz standards and spirituals, the album is Allen’s acknowledgement and affirmation of the artistic, historical and even spiritual connections that have made jazz the powerful cultural force that it has become over the past century.

Allen is joined on Timeless Portraits and Dreams by a stellar group of supporting players. Rounding out the core trio are bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jimmy Cobb. In addition, the roster of special guests includes vocalists Carmen Lundy and George Shirley (the first African-American tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera), trumpeter Wallace Roney, tenor saxophonist Donald Walden and the Atlanta Jazz Chorus (under the direction of Dwight Andrews).

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beyond her maiden voyage, December 28, 2006

By 

Case Quarter (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Timeless Portraits & Dreams (Bonus CD) (Audio CD)

having heard good things about geri allen, i want to like her music under her own name, but until this cd i've been disappointed. her piano reminds of me cocktail lounge music or ramsey lewis, styles alright in their place, but not what i look for when i want to own jazz piano. and her quintet work doesn't hold my attention.

portrait and dreams is a new format for her, one that works extremely well, a muted jazz vocal chorus on some numbers, interesting piano solo work and interpretations, particularly nino rota's la strada, also crisp playing by wallace roney on trumpet and donald walden on tenor sax. geri allen's piano is also a fine match for carmen lundy's voice.

this is the geri allen recording worth owning.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She shines on this, April 7, 2009

By 

Phil Kasiecki - See all my reviews

This review is from: Timeless Portraits & Dreams (Bonus CD) (Audio CD)

Ever since I first saw her live a couple of years ago, I've been a Geri Allen fan. Now that I've listened to this CD - the first of hers I own and not the last - I can't help but wonder why she isn't a big star in this genre.

Throughout the CD, her skill can be heard. Like the best pianists, she's a master at being able to alternately carry a song or provide background inflections that are subtle yet can't be missed. It's clear right away on the beautiful "Melchezedik", then the short but sweet "Portraits and Dreams", which she does a reprise of at the end. She shines alongside Carmen Lundy's vocals in "Well Done", an aptly titled song, shines solo on "La Strada" and "Nearly". Later, she gets together with husband Wallace Roney on "In Real Time" and later "Our Lady", the latter of which she wrote as a tribute to Billie Holiday.

A separate CD with this contains a nice rendition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", the Black National Anthem.

This is a beautiful CD, and if you haven't bought a Geri Allen CD before, get this one. It will make you want to buy all of her other ones and see her live.