Sister Rosetta Tharpe
1925-1973
singer, songwriter, guitarist
(*Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973)
was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterised by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm and blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced musicians including Little Richard,
Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner.
Geri Allen
pianist, composer, ethnomusicologist
Geri Allen began taking lessons from Marcus Belgrave at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. She discovered jazz through the Detroit Jazz Development Workshop. She studied ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh after completing her undergraduate studies at Howard University in Washington, DC.
Geri Allen was known for her two-faceted piano playing. On the one hand, she could play very delicately, elegantly and harmoniously, but on the other, she also played explosively with opposing rhythms, dissonances and clusters. Her playing was influenced by various elements of jazz history and brought them together.
After completing her studies, from 1982 onwards, Geri Allen lived in New York, where she worked with Oliver Lake, Joseph Jarman and Lester Bowie. In 1983 she recorded her debut album and in 1984 her album "The Printmakers", which was accompanied by Anthony Cox and Andrew Cyrille.
She was part of the musician collective M-Base and played with Steve Coleman's band Five Elements, Frank Lowe (1982), Oliver Lake, David Friedman and Franco Ambrosetti.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Geri Allen, along with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, recorded the albums "Etudes" on Soul Note and "Segments" on the DIW label. She also played with Betty Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, James Newton, Charles Lloyd and many other
musicians and participated in more than one hundred albums.
She was also a visiting professor at Howard University and a professor of jazz piano and improvisation at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Dance and Theatre. In 1993 and 1994, Geri Allen received the Howard University Distinguished Alumni Award, the SESAE Special Award, and the Eubie Blake Award.