 Geri Allen There have been few jazz albums to come out of the 80s and 90s that I could honestly say merit repeat listens, and nearly all of them have been by Boney James. (Uncalled-for sarcasm is always a nice opener. Just like the time I began a commencement speech with "Congratulations, you collective piece of crap!") Geri Allen's 1997 offering for Blue Note is helped by the presence of Ornette Coleman on alto sax and Wallace Roney on trumpet, but even without those benefits it is a strong testament to Allen's enigmatic musical quest. Her piano style is searching and explorative, and forms a solid core for the album atop which Coleman and Roney are won erful ornamentation. As an album, Eyes seems a bit half-finished, but even so it's a pretty powerful release, staking a claim for Geri Allen as one of the few jazz artists that are finding new ways to explore jazz as it nears a century of innovation. One of the big draws to the album is the presence of Ornette as a sideman, playing (I think) for the first time accompanied by piano (his classic quartet was just sax, trumpet, bass and drums). Coleman plays on two tracks ("Vertical Flowing" and "The Eyes Have It") and these are extremely good performances that allow the listener to hear his style unadorned by some of the more bombastic instrumentations present on many of his recent recordings. Essentially they are improvised duets between Allen and Coleman, and they work to great effect, showing off both performers' amazing skill. The four tracks with Roney are similar in feel, with flexible communication between the players and crisp playing by both. Roney's work here reminds me of Woody Shaw (mainly because of the relatively unstructured compositions) though his tone reminds me more of Freddie Hubbard. I haven't heard much of his own output, but he is definitely not out of league with Ornette on this record. A few of the tracks feature Allen accompanied by Cyro Baptista on percussion, and these sort of recall early 70s Impulse! albums in their sparseness and spirituality. Deep performances, although the noticeably 90s production values don't give them the sonic depth of something like an Alice Coltrane album. Allen's style is most similar to Ahmad Jamal, although she is too unique to really pinpoint any direct influence. Most of the songs seem improvised rather than composed, although none seems arbitrary. The whole thing is well done, although it doesn't really capture you like some of those magical Impulse!s do. Eyes … in the Back of Your Head seems a bit like an album cobbled together from extremely interesting, loosely related fragments culled from a demo session. It's an interior album, like it's not being played at all for its potential audience, but just for the performers in the moment. In some ways that make sit very pure, but as an overall listening experience it isn't perfect. The great moments (especially the Ornette tracks and Allen's overdubbed piano and synth on Ron Carter's "Little Waltz") are rather amazing, but there is a distance to the album that calls to mind some of ECM's more Teutonic releases. Easily one of the best jazz albums of the 90s, although I must say almost all my real 90s favorites have been reissues from the 60s.
Review by Bo Henry |