Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

A Child Is Born (album)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Released
  
October 11, 2011

Artist
  
Geri Allen

Label
  
Motéma Music

Length
  
50:31

Release date
  
11 October 2011

Genres
  
Jazz, Christmas music

A Child Is Born (album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb7

Recorded
  
January 14–15 and April 27–28, 2011

Studio
  
Union Country Performing Arts Center, Rahway, NJ and Klavierhaus, NYC

Producer
  
Geri Allen & Kunle Mwanga

A Child Is Born (2011)
  
Grand River Crossings (2013)

Similar
  
Geri Allen albums, Jazz albums

Media voices for children a gift ft geri allen s a child is born


A Child Is Born is an album of Christmas carols by pianist Geri Allen with vocalists recorded in 2011 and released on the Motéma label.

Contents

Reception

AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars stating "this is a holiday collection for the more adventurous jazz piano fan, rather than for someone looking for a safe, warm, and fuzzy set of jazzed-up Christmas tunes". The Guardian review by John Fordham awarded the album 3 stars noting "Wherever you're coming from, this remains the work of a gifted improviser exploring timelessly haunting songs". PopMatters reviewer Josh Langhoff said "Geri Allen’s mostly-solo, mostly-jazz-piano album A Child Is Born flows through traditional Christmas songs and hymns with much facility, some invention, and a couple of surprises"

Track listing

All compositions Traditional except where noted.

  1. "Angels We Have Heard On High" – 4:24
  2. "A Child Is Born" (Thad Jones, Alec Wilder) – 3:43
  3. "Imagining Gena at Sunrise" – 1:10
  4. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" – 7:31
  5. "Journey to Bethlehem" (Geri Allen) – 1:12
  6. "We Three Kings" (John Henry Hopkins, Jr." – 5:08
  7. "Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine Kennicott Davis) – 5:00
  8. "God Is With Us" (Allen) – 2:16
  9. "Amazing Grace" (John Newton/Traditional) – 2:43
  10. "Christmas Medley: Away in a Manger/What Child Is This?/Silent Night" (Traditional/William Chatterton Dix/Franz Xaver Gruber) – 4:32
  11. "Imagining Gena At Sunset" – 0:32
  12. "Let Us Break Bread Together" – 5:00
  13. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (Richard Storrs Willis) – 6:24
  14. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" – 0:56

Personnel

  • Geri Allen – Fazioli piano, celeste, Farfisa organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hohner clavinet
  • Carolyn Brewer (tracks 5 & 8), Connaitre Miller (track 8), Barbara Roney (track 8) – vocals
  • Farah Jasmine Griffin – spoken word (track 5)
  • Women Of the Gee's Bend Quilt Collective sampled and engineered by Jaimeo Brown (track 4)

    • Songs

    1Angels We Have Heard On High4:17
    2A Child Is Born3:38
    3Imagining Gena At Sunrise1:07

    References

    A Child Is Born (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA