On June 8, composer, performer, and scholar, Geri Allen will follow up her ambitious and critically lauded solo piano project, Flying Toward The Sound (March 30) with her first “live” recording: Geri Allen & Timeline – Live. These tandem releases mark her debut on the Motéma Music label. Fred Kaplan of Stereophile said of Flying Toward the Sound, “…she takes the art well beyond what many might expect of her. The sound quality is also superb: liquid and percussive. Get this, listen closely, and hang on tight.”

Whereas ‘Flying Toward the Sound’ documented Allen’s intimate, completely personal pianistic vision, Geri Allen & Timeline – Live reveals a populist and gregarious side of Allen’s musicality. Allen’s Timeline quartet, which has been touring successfully in the US and Europe for the past two years, represents another facet of the inspirational Geri Allen, in which she embraces the rhythmic grounding and, in fact, the very origins of syncopation through jazz in motion, with an extraordinary ensemble featuring veteran bassist Kenny Davis, and brilliant new talents Kassa Overall on multi-percussion set and tap sensation Maurice Chestnut.

Geri Allen & Timeline – Live is the first “live” recording of Allen’s 30 year career, and was recorded at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, and Reed College, in Portland, Oregon. These two exciting live performances feature Allen’s working quartet nimbly and ferociously interacting with each other, reinventing the dialog between the dance and the drums. Timeline celebrates the dance and the music together as one.

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