Recent Listening: Geri Allen
It can be argued that the tapping, for all its bracing novelty, eventually becomes too much of a good thing. Allen's playing more than compensates. It is a reminder of her high rank among the pianists of her generation who succeeded Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. Aside from her inspirational role in the rhythmic energy of the album, with Chestnut sitting out she has supremely lyrical moments in Mal Waldron's “Soul Eyes" and an unaccompanied impressionistic treatment of Gershwin's “Embraceable You." She is firm in her own style but nonetheless manages to suggest Tyner's power in his signature composition “Four by Five."
At the summit of recorded collaborations between a tap dancer and a jazz band, this album may not supplant the 1952 sessions of Fred Astaire with Oscar Peterson, but it rewards repeated hearings. I recommend it for the substance of Allen's playing and the quality of her trio. Chestnut's tap dancing is a bonus.
