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Review: Marilyn Crispell and Geri Allen (1997)

by Harry S. Pariser


This past March, Marilyn Crispell appeared at the San Francisco Jazz Festival and Geri Allen headlined at Yoshis in Jack London Square. Both are female, both are well-known pianists, both are composers, and both have played with drummer Paul Motian as well as other well-known jazz musicians. But here the comparisons end.


Marilyn Crispell is someone who came to the world of jazz through classical music. But, just as she listened to Schoenberg and Stockhausen before delving into more traditional composers, she also listened to jazz pianist Cecil Taylor before she experienced the more traditional Duke Ellington. Unlike Geri, her roots are not in bebop but in contemporary music. Whereas Geri was seeped in the music, Marilyn first heard John Coltrane in 1975 when she first heard his recording “A Love Supreme,” an encounter which transformed her life. Born in 1947, she graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music and has interpreted avant-garde contmeporary music composer John Cage and recorded his music for two toy pianos. However, she is best known for her powerful, Cecil-Taylor-style percussive avant-garde piano stylings. Crispell spent a decade with composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton and has played with ex-Coltrane bassist Reggie Workman.


In recent years, however, she has broadened her style. And Crispell’s performance performance at Yerba Buena reflected this. She seemed mellow, even contemplative. The Cecil Taylor-stylings are part of her style, but, it seems that her playing has matured and she has come into her own style. Like Cecil, Marilyn’s music is dynamic, yet meditative. And, like him, she also seems to conjure up weather. Indeed, Motian’s tune “Cosmology” seemed an ideal pick for the performance, because Crispell builds vast landscapes of sound which evoke visions of galaxies, solar flares, and black holes. It’s not easy listening, but it is well worth the effort.


Illness kept featured bassist Gary Peacock from performing with Marilyn. Initially, it seemed unfortunate because he plays with Motian on Crispell’s two most recent recordings. Her latest CD is “Amaryllis,” named for the red-and-white flower, a South Africa native which blossoms in the middle of winter. To Crispell the bloom represents "hope and rebirth." “Amaryllis” was preceded by the CD "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway," which interpreted the music of Annette Peacock, Gary’s ex-wife, and featured the same trio. However, bassist Mark Helias proved an able substitute for Peacock. Helias plays with Motian and is known for his work with the late master drummer Ed Blackwell. Motian, short and with head shaven, played with a percussive subtlety that seemed to reflect his meditative Buddhist sensibilities. In addition to his own releases, Motian is also legendary for his work with Keith Jarrett and saxophonist Dewey Redman.


Marilyn was preceded by drunner Susie Ibarra. Susie is a strong percussionist, and the group’s pianist, Angie Sanchez, was memorable. But her compositions lack distinctiveness, and her choice of the insipid ballad “What the World Needs Now” for her encore was disappointing. However, you can expect big things from her in the years ahead.


Born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1957, Geri Allen was raised in Detroit. Her first album, “Printmakers,” was released in 1984, two years after she moved to New York and one year after she debuted on a Joseph Jarman disk called “Inheritance.” During the 1980s, she played with bassist Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, and she also played on Motian’s album, “Monk in Motian.” “ Geri is married to jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney. She names the late woodwind whiz and composer Eric Dolphy as her primary influence.


For her performance at Yoshis, Geri was joined by bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Billy Hart. Hurst has been the Tonight’s show’s bassist since 1992, and he has played with the likes of Tony Williams and Wynton and Branford Marsalis. Hart played on some of Miles Davis’s recordings during the 1970s, and he has also played with Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner, two of Geri’s infuences.


Geri opened her first set with the Tyner-influenced “Angels,” a shimmering piece with symphonic flow. Hart -- who nearly stole the first set -- started off the tune with mallets, hit his cymbal with both sticks and the palm of his hand during the middle of the tune, and then switched to brushes.


Next, the trio transformed Ellington’s normally-sentimental “I’m Beginning to See the Light” into a swirling mass of improvisatory sound, which crested in an incendiary crescendo before returning to the theme.


Geri’s “April 12” featured Robert Hurst. He opened the tune with a melancholy and meditative bass solo before Geri moved in on piano. This was followed by the lively and commanding “RTG,” named after former collaborators bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. (Ron + Toni + Geri, get it?). It featured a fiery Billy Hart who charged ahead with his drumset.


The second set saw Geri more fired up, which meshed well with Hart’s characteristically bold, take-no-prisoners, hard-driving armadas of sound. Robert played one of his meditative own compositions, and Geri also played “The Drummer’s Song,” and the jamming “Feed the Fire.”


Geri is neither predictable nor middle of the road. She incorporates traditional jazz in her music and is forging ahead and breaking new territory.


Harry S. Pariser is an artist and writer based in San Francisco. His most recent books include Explore Costa Rica and Explore Barbados.

Useful for residents and visitors alike, Barbados Travel Companion, our new travel app to Barbados, supplies comprehensive information along with pictures, maps and links to hundreds of videos and relevant websites.

There is an Android version and an iTunes version.

St. John Visitors:

Please check out Explore St. John, our new travel app to St. John, which supplies comprehensive information (useful for residents and visitors alike) along with pictures, maps and links to hundreds of videos and relevant websites.

iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch version

Android version


Google
  Web www.savethemanatee.com

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