We attended Geri Allen’s services at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark yesterday, and we were so grateful that we managed to get there. We were seated in the „non-playing musicians“ section of pews, which struck us humorously as probably the first time anyone has categorized me as a „non-playing m.f.“ (musician’s joke). The musical and verbal tributes we heard at Geri Allen’s services were magnificent, as to be expected from students and colleagues of Geri Allen. They included Kenneth Barron, Terri Lyne Carrington, Andrew Cyrille, Jack DeJohnette, Robert Hurst, Vijay Iyer, Oliver Lake (we didn’t hear or see him, but he may have played before we got there), Joe Lovano, Carmen Lundy (didn’t hear her either), Nicholas Payton, Christian Sands, and Valerie Simpson. Speakers included the great Dr. Dwight Andrews and Dorthaan Kirk.
I myself had played five concerts with the great Geri Allen, and they were surely pinnacles of my musical life: July 24th, 2012: Henry Grimes and Geri Allen, the Stone, NYC; October 9, 2012: Jazz for Obama benefit, Henry Grimes w/ Geri Allen & Jeff „Tain“ Jeff Watts, Symphony Space, NYC; July 3rd, 2014: Nicole M. Mitchell w/ Geri Allen, Henry Grimes, & Pheeroan akLaff, the Stone, NYC; Nov. 17th, 2015: Cecil Taylor celebration, w/ Geri Allen, Henry Grimes, Jason Moran, and Henry Threadgill, Harlem Stage, Village of Harlem, NYC; June 7th, 2016: Henry Grimes Lifetime Achievement Award day, Henry Grimes quartet w/ Geri Allen, Andrew Cyrille, & Graham Haynes, Vision Festival at Judson Memorial Hall, NYC.
I’ve been ill and wasn’t in touch about possibly playing at the services, but I was content to sit in the audience and feel tremendously re-inspired and heartened and encouraged by having known, loved, and made music with the great Geri Allen, who is (no past tense), not only a musical genius, but as close to a perfect human being as we have ever known.
henry grimes, wahrscheinlich von margaret gechannelt, am 9.7. auf fb.
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