One year after Geri Allen died of cancer aged 60, Washington, DC’s Howard University Jazz Ensemble under the longtime direction of Professor Fred Irby III have released a tribute album to the pianist.

Aptly titled A Tribute To Geri Allen, it includes three archival recordings dated 1977, 1978 and 1979 of the then undergraduate Allen performing her compositions with the large ensemble. The CD also includes seven tracks of the present-day group.

Irby told the non-profit jazz organisation CapitalBop that he “felt he ‘had to do something’ to memorialise his one-time student”. “Irby,” CapitalBop’s Jackson Sinnenberg goes on to explain, “was the one who recruited Allen to come to Howard in 1975, and remembered her being ‘very smart and super talented. All the musicians at the university respected her.’”

CapitalBop has also shared the track “For Real Moments”.

For copies of A Tribute To Geri Allen on CD you need to contact Professor Fred Irby at firby@howard.edu