{"id":2257,"date":"2017-06-29T13:07:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T17:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=2257"},"modified":"2017-06-29T15:03:51","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T19:03:51","slug":"great-new-jazz-photography-geri-allen-by-santa-istvan-csaba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2017\/06\/great-new-jazz-photography-geri-allen-by-santa-istvan-csaba.html","title":{"rendered":"Great new jazz photography: Geri Allen by S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pianist-composer Geri Allen<\/a>, at age 60 a cancer victim, was photographed several times recently by S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba<\/a>. He caught glimpses of her spirit and mourns her deeply.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Geri Allen (6\/12\/57 – 6\/27\/17), photographed 4\/4\/17 in Cully, Switzerland<\/p><\/div>\n

“I saw her about five weeks ago here in Torino,” S\u00c3\u00a1nta writes from where he now lives, “and in April in Switzerland. She was in a good mood and smiling. So unbelievable.”<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Geri Allen in Cully, Switzerland, 4\/4\/17<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Geri Allen, NYC 11\/28\/2012<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Geri Allen with Enrico Rava in Torino, Italy, 5\/19\/17<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Geri Allen and McCoy Tyner, Cully, Switzerland, 4\/4\/17<\/p><\/div>\n

I was fortunate to have met Geri Allen in soon after she’d arrived to New York City in the early 1980s, having graduated from Howard University. I interviewed her for National Public Radio and DownBeat, for which she talked with one of her heros, pianist Hank Jones (they were both from Detroit, but generations apart; that discussion is in my book Future Jazz<\/em><\/a>). I heard Geri often, as a leader and side-person, at clubs in NYC; in quartet with Ornette Coleman at the SFJazz Festival where the entr’acte featured a body-piercer (that episode is in Miles Ornette Cecil – Jazz Beyond Jazz<\/em><\/a>), and most recently in trio with Terri Lyne Carrington and David Murray (as a “power trio,” they recorded \u00c2\u00a0Perfection<\/a>). She received many honors; the Jazz Journalists Association presented Geri Allen with a Jazz Hero Award in 2016<\/a> for her work as an educator in Pittsburgh and before that at Howard, New England Conservatory and University of Michigan.<\/p>\n

Among my favorites of her recordings are The Printmakers<\/a>, her debut as a leader;\u00c2\u00a0Open on All Sides in the Middle<\/a>, featuring her mentor Marcus Belgrave among other aces; Etudes<\/a> with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian (if I recall right, I wrote the liner notes), and and Eyes in the Back of Your Head<\/a>, with Ornette.<\/p>\n

Someone told me — it might have been Geri herself — that she’d been very nervous to work with Ornette, as she had been to engage with Hank Jones; she was extremely self-effacing. But when they first met to play the iconoclastic saxophonist leaned over her shoulder as she sat the piano and quietly said something like, “Don’t worry, just play, I’ll take care of everything.”<\/p>\n

She had deep regard for her predecessors and elders, serving greatly to restore luster to the music and artistic reputations of Mary Lou Williams<\/a> and Erroll Garner<\/a>, among others. Since 2015, Geri Allen had been performing along with NEA Jazz Master McCoy Tyner<\/a>; S\u00c3\u00a1nta captured them together three months ago.<\/p>\n

Of the photographer: He’s Transylvanian-born and a globetrotter, who shoots wherever he goes and has especially fascinating galleries of images of gypsy life and undeveloped parts in his native land<\/a>. S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba’s exhibition of close-up portraits of jazz greats, which I wrote of in February <\/a>when they were hung at M\u00c3\u00bcpa Budapest art center in Budapest, is currently being mounted for display at the Bucharest Jazz Festival, <\/a>Romania.<\/p>\n

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Pianist-composer Geri Allen, at age 60 a cancer victim, was photographed several times recently by S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba. He caught glimpses of her spirit and mourns her deeply. “I saw her about five weeks ago here in Torino,” S\u00c3\u00a1nta writes from where he now lives, “and in April in Switzerland. She was in a good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/GeriAllen_1-CullySwitzerland_2017.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-Ap","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2757,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2020\/04\/revered-jazz-elders-deceased-portraits-by-santa-istvan-csaba.html","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":0},"title":"Revered jazz elders, deceased: portraits by S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"As a generation of jazz elders leaves our world -- some hastened by the pandemic -- their faces as photographed by S\u00c3\u00a1nta Istv\u00c3\u00a1n Csaba become even more luminous, haunting, iconic. Guiseppi Logan, multi-instrumentalist (May 1935 - April 2020) Henry Grimes, bassist (Nov 1935 - April 2020) Pianists Geri Allen (June\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GiuseppiLogan-NewYork_2012.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2387,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2018\/01\/international-jazz-rips-2017.html","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":1},"title":"International Jazz RIPs, 2017","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Photographer-writer-author\u00c2\u00a0Ken Franckling has painstakingly compiled a compendium of more than 400 jazz artists and associates from around the world who died in 2017,\u00c2\u00a0with links to obituaries of most of them. Posted at JJANews.org. It's a striking document and useful resource, though Franckling says, sadly, \"The list seems to get depressingly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Geri Allen\"","block_context":{"text":"Geri Allen","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/tag\/geri-allen"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MuhalRichardAbrams2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MuhalRichardAbrams2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MuhalRichardAbrams2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MuhalRichardAbrams2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/01\/images-of-a-jazz-conference.html","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":2},"title":"Images of a Jazz Conference","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Jazz Connect, a confederation of jazz activists including principals of JazzTimes magazine, \u00c2\u00a0AllAboutJazz.com\u00c2\u00a0and Thirsty Ear Recordings, produced a free multi-meeting conference with no specific theme other than what's happening in the musical \"community\" now, on Jan 10 and 11 at the New York Hilton. 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Let's celebrate the lives and creativity of all three. Strangely,\u00c2\u00a0reports by a nephew of Byrd's death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Singer-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1509,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2014\/01\/nea-2014-jazz-masters-investiture-photo-gallery.html","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":4},"title":"NEA 2014 Jazz Masters’ investiture photo gallery","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm reporting on the NEA Jazz Masters events for Down Beat, so reserve most comments 'til publication. But some controversies regarding the ceremonial events may emerge . . .","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Owens-Barron.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1870,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2015\/06\/ornette-coleman-returned-music-to-freedom-and-basics.html","url_meta":{"origin":2257,"position":5},"title":"Ornette Coleman returned music to freedom and basics","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"June 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Sad news this morning: Ornette Coleman died at age 85. Triumphant news: Ornette Coleman returned music to its free-from-cant basics, emphasizing emotional communication and intuitive human interactions over any other elements in the dynamic, multi-faceted, immediate art form. 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