Geri Allen - Grand River Crossings (Motown & Motor City Inspirations) '2013

Tracks list

       Geri Allen's Grand River Crossings pays homage to the music and historic
example of her hometown of Detroit. It is named for the pre-interstate, 216-mile
thoroughfare that connects the Motor City to Lansing and Grand Rapids. For
Allen, Grand River signifies many things, among them a rite of passage, crossing
the eight-lane street as a young girl, and later attending the famed Cass
Technical High School located on it -- the city's shining educational jewel that
has graduated more artists, musicians, engineers, architects, and writers than
can adequately be summed up here. The album is also the third in a series of
standalone, largely solo, piano-based works that began with 2010's Flying Toward
the Sound and continued with 2011's A Child Is Born. The program, largely
populated with well-known compositions from Motown artists, Detroit jazz icons,
fellow Cass Tech alumni, and the pianist, is an exploratory one. Commencing with
a physical, busy reading of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin',"
where she extrapolates on the changes, finding numerous subtleties inside the
melody, gives way to a gorgeous, speculative intro to a symbiotic take on Smokey
Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" before gliding gracefully and elegantly through
the various shades and depths in Stevie Wonder's "That Girl." Allen
reinvigorates these songs as models for investigation and improvisation. After
her brief title interlude, she turns her attention to Roy Brooks' "The Smart
Set" with Marcus Belgrave on trumpet. He also guests on her deeply intuitive
reading of his own Fantasia-esque "Space Odyssey," from his 1974 classic Gemini.
Allen's expansive, inverted harmonic version of Holland-Dozier-Holland's "Baby I
Need Your Lovin'" proves that a great jazz musician can unlock the complex
secrets from the simplest melody. She proves more than her brilliance; she
reveals the sophistication in the layers underneath -- a hallmark of Motown
tunes. This is followed by the brief "Itchin' in My Heart," another tune by the
team that features saxophonist David McMurray. Allen layers deep blues inside
its funky groove. The tenderness in her version of the Supremes' "Stoned Love"
is paramount. She exposes the traces of gospel and the black spirituals at the
heart of the Civil Rights movement, and reveals the seed of Curtis Mayfield's
"People Get Ready" in its melody. She simultaneously reflects on the continued
struggle for civil rights and the numerous problems currently oppressing
Detroit. First there's the aggressive, almost militant reading of Marvin Gaye's
"Inner City Blues." It's followed by a confident, extended, harmonically
revisioned version of his "Save the Children," which is an exhortation, not a
plea. Allen and Belgrave close the set with a breezy duet take on famed jazz
arranger -- and native Detroiter -- Gerald Wilson's "Nancy Joe" (sic) from his
paramount 1962 set Moment of Truth, revealing the glorious swing in Detroit's
jazz tradition. Of her 19 offerings, Grand River Crossings is certainly her most
personal. It's also among her very best.

1.01 - Geri Allen - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (2:22)
1.02 - Geri Allen - Tears of a Clown (5:31)
1.03 - Geri Allen - That Girl (6:05)
1.04 - Geri Allen - Grand River Crossings I (0:48)
1.05 - Geri Allen - The Smart Set (2:53)
1.06 - Geri Allen - Let It Be (3:58)
1.07 - Geri Allen - Space Odyssey (5:36)
1.08 - Geri Allen - In Appreciation (1:03)
1.09 - Geri Allen - Baby I Need Your Lovin' (4:29)
1.10 - Geri Allen - Itching in My Heart (1:56)
1.11 - Geri Allen - Stoned Love (3:39)
1.12 - Geri Allen - Grand River Crossings II (0:51)
1.13 - Geri Allen - Inner City Blues (4:26)
1.14 - Geri Allen - Save the Children (7:15)
1.15 - Geri Allen - Nancy Joe (3:42) 

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