Considering this disc's title, it might seem an irony that the improvising displays a good deal more dazzling life than most of the compositions. But with the personnel on this session, that isn't much of a disadvantage - and the improvising is so good that the songs are required to act as little more than triggers to the spontaneous playing. It's a timely reminder of the gifts of Geri Allen, the Michigan-born jazz pianist, who is also touring the UK for six gigs from next Tuesday, in the quite different setting of Scottish drummer Tom Bancroft's Orchestro Interrupto big band. Allen is a woman with a glowing reputation for many achievements, not least being the first keyboardist in 35 years to be hired by Ornette Coleman - a measure of her open approach and ability to float free of harmony's more inflexible principles. For this session, she has reassembled the trio she formed to back the vocals of the late Betty Carter in 1993, with Dave Holland on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums - about as good as the contemporary jazz piano trio business gets.
The music consists of eight Allen originals, plus Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life, Bud Powell's Dance of the Infidels and Mal Waldron's Soul Eyes - the last including brass and reeds, with Allen's early teacher, Marcus Belgrave, on flugelhorn. The power of the group is apparent from the opening bars. Allen's opening LWB House - the Remix (it's a reference to the ever-changing chemistry of her family) starts as a mid-tempo ostinato and develops with dissonant harmonies, mimicking the string sound of the African kora. The pianist's eventful solos, Holland's forward-leaning basslines and DeJohnette's imperious drumming are into their strides at once, with the latter contrastingly reserved, gentle and cymbal-preoccupied on the following Mounts and Mountains, with its shifting four-note patterns over a bass pedal-tone.
Allen plays a lovely version of Lush Life in low, dark chords developing into pealing sounds (Bill Evans phrases occasionally flitting in) over an ebbing and flowing pulse, and her Herbie Hancock associations are exuberantly celebrated in the rolling gospel feel of Celebration Song and the impulsive momentum of Dance of the Infidels. All the playing is terrific, and Allen herself often breathtaking The originals may grow on you, but it doesn't matter if they don't. - John Fordham
Tracks
01. LWB's House (The Remix)
02. Mounts And Mountains
03. Lush Life (Billy Strayhorn)
04. In Appreciation: A Celebration Song
05. The Experimental Movement
06. Holdin' Court
07. Dance Of The Infidels
08. Unconditional Love
09. The Life Of A Song
10. Black Bottom
11. Soul Eyes
GERI ALLEN piano
DAVE HOLLAND bass
JACK DeJOHNETTE drums
All compositions by Geri Allen except as indicated
Telarc Jazz CD-83598