In Memoriam: Geri Antoinette Allen, 1957-2017

Geri Allen, a jazz pianist, composer, and director of jazz studies at the University of Pittsburgh died late last month at a hospital in Philadelphia. She was 60 years old and had suffered from cancer.

A native of Pontiac, Michigan, Allen began playing the piano at age 7. She was a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., and earned a master’s degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh.

After completing her master’s degree she moved to New York and began a successful career as a performer and a recording artist with 20 albums to her credit. She taught at the University of Michigan for 10 years before becoming director of the jazz studies program at the University of Pittsburgh in 2014.

Kenneth Powell, adjunct saxophone instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, said that “when you look back at women in jazz, she is going to be among the greatest ever. The synergy of her creativity and technical proficiency made her a powerful force that will be acknowledged for years to come.”

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers

Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Establishes New Research Center to Address Segregation in Local Area

The new Center for Equity Practice and Planning Justice at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee aims to study the history of racial segregation in the local area and advance racially equitable practices in urban planning.

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

How Early Childhood Education Affects Black Children’s Future Success

Over the past fifty years, a team of researchers have tracked 104 predominately Black participants from infancy to adulthood to determine how early childhood education affects their long term outcomes. Although they received the same education, Black boys had significantly lower cognitive scores than Black girls once they reached high school and beyond.

Featured Jobs