My Tribute to Geri Allen

My Tribute to Geri Allen Praise the Lord. To the family, to the friends, to Rev. Timothy Jones, to Rev. Dr. Howard, to the clergy, to Bethany Baptist and to all who are here today, honor to all. Geri Allen and I met at Cass Technical High School in Detroit when we were both fifteen years old. We were both in the school’s jazz ensemble class at the time. We became fast friends and our friendship ended up spanning forty-five years. We were the best of friends and often defined our friendship as such. She was like a sister to me, and still is. In the earlier years she’d have jam sessions at the house on Penrod and I’d catch the bus to get there. I remember she and I talking for hours many times back then in the basement of her home. Aside from her musical accomplishments, talents, and gifts; Geri was demure, reserved, quite pleasant to be around, extremely generous, humble, and soft spoken. Geri was also a Christian. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior on Jan...