Soulful Jazz Piano Sensation Geri Allen Brings the Sounds of the Motor City to the Kimmel Center
February 3, 2006
Geri Allen
Detroit-born jazz pianist Geri Allen will be joined by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane in a performance honoring the traditional and modern jazz styles of her hometown, on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater.
This performance is third in the Kimmel Presents’ Mellon Jazz Up Close: One Nation Under Jazz series. The series concludes with Boston: Roy Haynes Quartet with Danilo Perez on Saturday, April 1, 2006 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater.
Tickets for Geri Allen’s Detroit are $41 and $36 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online or at the Kimmel Center Box Office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply) For group sales call 215-893-5883.
Geri Allen is an accomplished jazz pianist who gives respect to the honored jazz tradition while advancing her own evocative style. Through the years she has explored a broad repertoire, from free to bop, with a commitment to rich, rhythmic improvisation. She began playing the piano at the age of ten and began training in earnest at Cass Technical High School in Detroit under trumpeter and teacher, Marcus Belgrave. Since then she has collaborated with highly esteemed musicians like Ornette Coleman, Arthur Blythe, and Betty Carter, and used those experiences to inspire her own celebration of jazz. In pursuing this musical freedom, she has become a groundbreaking artist who became the first recipient of Soul Train’s Lady of Soul Award for jazz album of the year in 1995 for Twenty-One, as well as the first woman to win the Danish Jazzpar prize in 1996.
The son of two jazz musicians (his mother is keyboardist Alice Coltrane), tenor saxophonist, bandleader and composer Ravi Coltrane grew up listening to popular ‘70s and ‘80s music long before venturing into the jazz scene in the late 1980s. A quest to know more about his father, who passed away when he was just an infant, piqued his curiosity and led to a transformation in the way that he thought about music. As he went through school at the California Institute of Art, Ravi expanded his list of sax influences to greats like Sonny Rollins, and was daunted by the heavy aura of other jazzmen he was investigating. After playing a few gigs around home, his big break came during a two-year stint with Elvin Jones, the man behind the classic John Coltrane Quartet. Learning how to separate his own name from his father’s continued to be part of Ravi’s career even as he took on several key sideman gigs and made a couple of CDs in the years to follow. Today, his extensive discography includes four critically acclaimed recordings as a leader (including In Flux in February of 2005), and more than 30 recording as a sideman. Ravi also launched his own recording company, RKM Music, and was the driving force behind his mother’s return to recording after a 26-year hiatus.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to evening performances and 11:30am for matinees.
Kimmel Center Presents’ 2005/2006 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Sovereign Bank, The American Express Company, Verizon Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The William Penn Foundation. Special Student Matinees at the Kimmel Center are generously supported by Merck & Co., Inc. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. In-kind support is generously provided by Deloitte and Southern Wine and Spirit. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Mellon Jazz Up Close: One Nation Under Jazz
Saturday, February 11, 2006 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Geri Allen, piano
Ravi Coltrane, tenor saxophone
Kenny Davis, bass
Mark Johnson, drums
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