Geri Allen Always Surprises Me
Stephen LH Braunginn | Madison, WI | 05/26/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Geri Allen overshadows all of the pianists in her generation, not by miles, but by worlds. Her latest album, a solo, provides such sensitivity and gentile finesse, that at times, it feels like Ms. Allen and the gift of her hands glide over you, through you, and surrounds you with technique and style unknown since the high points of McCoy Tyner's and Mary Lou Williams' piano inventiveness and brilliance. As the artistic director of the Mary Lou Williams Collective, the inner light of Ms. Williams on Geri's work is so apparent. Two women who chose the piano as their instrument, their voice to share who they are with the world come together as one with this remarkable recording. With the departure and great loss of Ms. Williams in 1981, passing the baton on to Geri Allen was only a natural and sensible thing to do. Ms. Allen coalesces the many musicians with whom she's performed; their ideas, their own voices and meshed them together with her now highly mature abilities. "Flying Toward the Sound" is what Geri Allen indeed does. Using her piano as a magic carpet, Geri Allen flies into the stratosphere of jazz, giving jazz another definitive moment for future musicians of all types to learn from. What beautiful sounds float through the air, reaching out to the listener, to me, demanding that I cease whatever I'm doing to turn my attention to the works of this greatest of pianists today. Geri Allen's climb to the peak of this enormous mountain of music and musicians has now arrived with this extraordinary album, "Flying Toward the Sound." Mary Lou Williams is surely smiling in the heavens as she looks upon her successor as one of the greatest of greats in jazz; in jazz piano."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
