holiday gift guide 2011 A Child Is Born Bears Holiday Fruit By John Ephland It’s the kind of holiday music that somehow manages to transcend the holidays. Pianist Geri Allen’s A Child Is Born (Motéma) is music that’s reminiscent of all things year-end, but it’s also something that...stays with you. Yes, it’s jazz—maybe not as jazzy or whimsical as Vince Guaraldi. But it’s every bit as expressive, a spiritually driven work in the tradition of Mary Lou Williams and Duke Ellington. “My family is spiritually based,” Allen said, citing her paternal grandfather, a Methodist minister, as one of her primary inspirations. “My pastor, Dr. William Howard, hugely impacted my musical and spiritual growth by warmly welcoming me into the church. ” Perhaps it also has something to do with the title track, written by the late, great Thad Jones. Asked in September when she’ll start playing tracks from the CD on her fall tour, Allen said, “I won’t start performing this music until after Thanksgiving.” She added that her trio with Jeff “Tain” Watts and Kenny Davis, along with Marcus Belgrave, did do a version of the title track when they performed at the Village Vanguard earlier that month. “It’s a wonderful focus for this CD,” Allen noted. “I had participated with Marian McPartland on her Piano Jazz program, and she was reminiscing about having played the song and how appropriate it would be for the Christmas canon. And I was like, ‘Yes! You’re absolutely right.’ It’s a perfect addition to the Christmas season and the songs we’re used to.” The end of that tour includes a special performance at her home church, Bethany Baptist, in Newark, N.J., on Dec. 17. An integral part of A Child Is Born, the second in a piano-driven trilogy for the Motéma label, is Allen’s selective use of voices. “We decided to create three solo-piano-driven conceptual records,” Allen explained. “Flying Toward The Sound was the first one. [Her second release is the quartet date Timeline Live, also released in 2010. The third piano project is in the works.] And now, A Child Is Born. It’s still piano-driven, but I felt I really needed the voices. The human voice resonates in a way that connects us all. And I think that the voices that are part of this project are clear, pure sounds in concert with each other.” These voices include Connaitre Miller, Allen’s daughter Barbara Roney, Carolyn Brewer, Farah Jasmine Griffin and the women of the Gee’s Bend Quilter’s Collective. All of the vocalists are used in different configurations on selective tracks, some of which include spoken word, sampled vocals, and vocal soundscape engineering and design. Among the songs are Allen’s touching “Journey To Bethlehem” and the more traditional (both arranged by Allen) “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and “Amazing Grace.” Allen added other “voices” that join her acoustic piano in the forms of concert celeste, Fender Rhodes, Farfisa and Hohner clavinet. Along with the human voice, these other “voices” reminded Allen of her “early experiences with a harp-and-vocal program in high school,” she recalled. “It included 20 harps, pump organs and bells, all on stage. It was like a choir, a chorus. That was my reason for wanting to go back to those older-sounding instruments.” This release is replete with thanks, starting with her parents—Mount Vernell Allen Jr. and her late mother, Barbara Jean Allen. The pianist also acknowledges such musical influences as Dr. Billy Taylor and Hank Jones; The Reverend Dwight D. Andrews, who wrote the liner notes, and is a composer, musician and a published author on jazz and spirituality; Jana Herzen from the Motéma family; co-producer Kunle Mwanga and associate producer Jim Luce; and cover artist Kabuya Pamela Bowens, whose evocative print artwork feels like an extension of the music. Allen mentions Dorthaan Kirk “because she has brought jazz to the community through Bethany Baptist’s jazz vespers ministry. People like Jimmy Heath, Randy Weston and Barry Harris, but also young and upcoming jazz musicians have been part of this program. A program that was so influential to me coming to this church.” With an album both serene and imaginative, Geri Allen says simply, “A Child Is Born is a celebration of the joys and blessings of the Christmas season.” DB Ordering info: motema.com, geriallen.com 66 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2011
DECEMBER 2011 DOWNBEAT 67