Geri Antoinette Allen was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator.
10 Facts About Geri Allen
2.
Geri Allen taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh.
3.
Geri Allen started playing the piano at the age of seven, and settled on becoming a jazz pianist in her early teens.
4.
Geri Allen graduated from Howard University's jazz studies program in 1979.
5.
Geri Allen then continued her studies: with pianist Kenny Barron in New York; and at the University of Pittsburgh, where she completed a master's degree in ethnomusicology in 1982.
6.
Geri Allen became involved in the M-Base collective in New York.
7.
Geri Allen's recording debut as a leader was in 1984, resulting in The Printmakers.
8.
In 2006, Geri Allen composed "For the Healing of the Nations", a suite written in tribute to the victims and survivors of the September 11 attacks.
9.
Geri Allen died on June 27,2017, two weeks after her 60th birthday, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after suffering from cancer.
10.
Geri Allen portrays jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams and performs with the jazz band in the Robert Altman film Kansas City.