Geri Allen

[cayetano]

It's 1997, I saw the same trio in Vitoria.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 3/12/2026 at 10:42 AM, Late said:

From 2013:

2 hours ago, Pim said:

Thanks for posting that 2013 video. Great to see those woman play together! Definitely something I would like to have seen live.

I was at this show. It was great. I was able to sit right up in front of Geri Allen at the piano. There are other videos of that show on YouTube but they appear to have been posted by someone who had a thing for Esperanza.

The trio was scheduled to return a year later but Geri passed unexpectedly before the show. They brought in Nicholas Payton to sit in the keyboard chair. That show was also very good. It was more of a Geri Allen tribute, so the mood was very different.

[Ken Dryden]

I saw Geri Allen leading a trio at the Village Vanguard in October 1998 and at the Atlanta Jazz Festival as part of a Detroit All-Star Ensemble, year unknown.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I was lucky to see Geri perform many times over the years. Phenomenal player. She wasn't much older than me, so I was just as shocked as everyone when she passed away. Cancer sucks.

[optatio]

Saw her in Kassel, Germany, October 12, 2002

[Stompin at the Savoy]

 

[kh1958]

I believe I saw her five times; each time being strikingly different:

1. With Chico Freeman, Andrew Cyrille and Richard Davis.

2. A piano trio but with a tap dancer added.

3. As the pianist in a group led by Wallace Roney (also with James Spaulding).

4. Trio with David Murray and Terri Lynne Carrington.

4. The last time, about a year before she died, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, in a two piano band (with Christian Sands), also including Russell Malone on guitar, for an Errol Garner tribute. George Wein was also in the audience.

[Simon8]

19 hours ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

 

👍👍  (love that record)

[Patrick]

I saw the ACS trio twice in 2013. In June at Town Hall for the Wayne Shorter 80th birthday celebration and then at Kennedy Center in October. 

[mhatta]

It was a shame I didn’t get to see Geri Allen perform live. I’m probably in the minority here, but personally, while I appreciate her later, more traditional style of piano playing, I feel it was a bit “too serious.” Coming from the M-BASE scene, I preferred her earlier performances, where she really put her keyboards to work. Her music had a unique, ethereal quality—it was bright and open—and I feel like she never fully explored that potential before it came to an end.

 

[mikeweil]

Saw her perform in a trio with Ralphe Armstrong and Sherman Ferguson (a real swinging drummer playing for the benefit of the trio). It was excellent. I liked her piano playing much more than on the records.

[AllenLowe]

I met her twice, and the personality difference was....well, bizarrely radical.

First time, she played for John Szwed's course at Yale - it must have been mid 1980s? She wasn't very famous yet. I drove her to the train to go back to NYC and she was very "regular," young, friendly, unaffected, casual dress. Even knew some of my work.

Second time - at a Jazz conference in NYC. I do not remember the year, but it was probably in the 20-teens. Well...a different personality entirely. Dressed formally in a "look at me" way, like she was going to the Oscars. I did talk to her (sort of) because Bob Neloms, an old friend of  mine, who at this point was unwell, had been her mentor when she was growing up near Detroit. He was a mess, and I suggested that he might welcome a phone call. She was...strange, distant, disinterested, indifferent. Kinda like a politician meeting a constituent whom they don't think is particularly important, but whom they have to pretend to care about. Carried herself like she was a diva, maybe Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. Cordial, but regal and not quite there, clearly didn't care about what I was saying.

She was a great pianist, though.

Edited 5 hours ago by AllenLowe

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Everyone has good days and bad days. I once met a pianist after a show to ask him for an autograph. He ignored me and acted as if I was not even standing there. A few years later, I saw him again and when I asked the leader of the gig for an autograph, the pianist stepped up and asked me if I wanted his autograph on the record too. I ended up getting the whole band to sign and got to talk to that pianist for several minutes and he was the nicest guy you'd ever meet.

FWIW, if the year was closer to the late 00's (like 2008), she was going through a divorce from Wallace Roney. I worked with a woman for many years and when she was going through her divorce, she was not the same person. It was almost unbearable to be in the same room with her for about a year after her divorce. She actually apologized to me years later because she realized how badly she'd been acting to everyone, particularly men.

[AllenLowe]

1 hour ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Everyone has good days and bad days. I once met a pianist after a show to ask him for an autograph. He ignored me and acted as if I was not even standing there. A few years later, I saw him again and when I asked the leader of the gig for an autograph, the pianist stepped up and asked me if I wanted his autograph on the record too. I ended up getting the whole band to sign and got to talk to that pianist for several minutes and he was the nicest guy you'd ever meet.

FWIW, if the year was closer to the late 00's (like 2008), she was going through a divorce from Wallace Roney. I worked with a woman for many years and when she was going through her divorce, she was not the same person. It was almost unbearable to be in the same room with her for about a year after her divorce. She actually apologized to me years later because she realized how badly she'd been acting to everyone, particularly men.

it likely was around that time, yes.