"Timeless Portraits and Dreams"! This is the title of Geri Allen's new CD to be released by Telarc on August 22, 2006. An extraordinary work, this is not just another trio performance, though the core trio consists of Geri Allen, the pianist, Ron Carter on Bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Several of the pieces use The Atlanta Jazz Chorus under the direction of Dwight Andrews.

One of these was written by Mary Lou Williams and arranged by Carmen Lundy. Its title is "I Have a Dream" with words also by Mary Lou, adapted from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The solo vocal line is sung by the great George Shirley who was the first black man to have sung tenor at The Metropolitan Opera.

He also sings "Lift Every Voice and Sing", our Black National Anthem, with words by James Weldon Johnson, and music by his brother J. Rosamond Johnson, accompanied only by Ms. Allen.

Geri's husband, the brilliant trumpeter Wallace Roney, is heard on two pieces: "In Real Time" which both he and Ms. Allen wrote, and "Our Lady", Allen's elegant portrait of Billie Holiday.

Carmen Lundy brings the album to a close by singing "Timeless Portraits and Dreams". This selection extends for a little more than five minutes, and, is the core of a new large musicial work in remembrance of the dead and of the survivors of 9/11/01.

This new work is called "For the Healing of the Nations" and extends to forty musicians with solo voices and chorus. "For the Healing of the Nations" will have its premiere on September 10, 2006 at 3:00PM in The Gordon Theatre at The Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts in Camden, New Jersey. Besides Ms. Allen at the piano, Andy Bey, Nnnenna Freelon, Mary Stallings, Craig Harris and Akua Dixon will be featured. Go to: www.ruarts.org/2006/09

Geri Allen's last outing on CD, released on February 7, 2006, was for The Mary Lou Williams Foundation on its recording label, Mary Records. This, as you may see by going to the page on this site called "Mary Records", was Zodiac Suite: Revisited.

"Timeless Portraits and Dreams" is a moving sound panorama of what it means to be Black and an artist today. "

Buy both albums and come to the concert in September. Thank you.