Geri Allen - The Nurturer (1990)

A fine example of Geri Allen's advanced music (which holds on to tradition without merely recreating the past), this CD matches the talented pianist with veteran trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, altoist Kenny Garrett, bassist Robert Hurst, drummer Jeff Watts and percussionist Eli Fountain on group originals and two obscurities. Everyone is in fine form, and the Belgrave-Garrett combination works quite well. ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG.

The music is highly interesting! Bold, complex, energetic, beautiful acoustic jazz, typical of its period. There's some effortless blending of different subdivisions of rhythm (Watts and Hurst have teamed up before...), some spirited almost-free blowing, some serious loose and groovy second-line blues romping, floating, all-encompassing jazz music. All the players deliver, and the band sound is great. Geri Allen rocks. Open your ears and dig in. ~ B.A.H., Amazon.com.

Blue Note, CDP 7 95139 2, 1991

Recorded 5^th & 6^th January, 1990 At Sound On Sound, New York, NY

Musicians:

Geri Allen - Piano

Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Kenny Garrett - Alto & Straight-Alto Saxophones

Robert Hurst - Bass

Jeff Watts - Drums

Eli Fountain - Percussion

Tracks:

1. Night's Shadow {Eli Fountain} (8:26)

2. No. 3 {Lawrence Williams} (8:17)

3. It's Good To Be Home Again {Lawrence Williams, Arr. Gene Kee} (4:32)

4. Batista's Groove {Marcus Belgrave} (5:24)

5. Night Of Power [For My Daughter Laila] {Geri Allen} (2:19)

6. Our Gang {Robert Hurst} (5:38)

7. Silence And Song / The Nurturer {Geri Allen} (9:51)

8. Le Goo Wop {Geri Allen} (1:48)

9. Lullaby Of Isfahn {Kenny Garrett} (6:41)

Credits:

Producer - Geri Allen

Executive-Producer - Hitoshi Namekata

Recording & Mixing Engineer - Peter Denenberg

Mastering Engineer - Yoshio Okazaki (Capitol Jax)

Photography [Back] - Shigeru Uchiyama

Art Direction - Kaoru Taku

Cover Painting - Michael Kelly Williams