Ed Reed

BY FRANK ALKYER
The art of the tribute album is tricky at best: Stay too close to the original and you’ll send listeners back to that source material. Muck around too much and, well … you’ll send listeners back to the original. But vocalist Ed Reed knows how to find the sweet spot in a song and how to make it his own, as he proves on his latest recording, I’m A Shy Guy: A Tribute To The King Cole Trio & Their Music. The ever youthful, 84-year-old Reed sings this material as if he’s lived with it his whole life, which he has. These songs roll off his tongue with an understated grace and comfort. Here, we have Reed snuggling up to songs that Nat “King” Cole’s trio made famous in the 1940s. From the downbeat of “I Just Can’t See For Lookin’,” the record’s first tune, there’s no doubt that Reed has gentle yet firm command of this material. His voice is clear. His timing and intonation could be offered as a master class. And the band just slides into the groove of this classic trio with Randy Porter on piano, Jamie Fox on guitar and John Wiitala on bass. Tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz joins the festivities on tunes like “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” and “Meet Me At No Special Place.” The latter tune also features drummer Akira Tana, who appears on the title track, too, to give it extra punch. But my favorite moments on the record come when Reed and his voice are the absolute center of attention. You can almost imagine being in a piano bar at closing time when he sings “That’s The Beginning Of The End” with just Porter’s fine accompaniment. The same is true of “I’m Lost,” here done as a vocal and bass duet with Wiitala. And then there’s “This Will Make You Laugh” with Fox’s guitar taking on the heavy challenge of being compared to the fabulous Oscar Moore. He does it just beautifully! By the end of I’m A Shy Guy, I felt that Mr. Reed and his associates had clearly illustrated the endurance of Cole’s trio by simply running down the songs properly, as the “King” intended. Lesson delivered and not soon forgotten.
- DownBeat Magazine, October 2013

...Since Love Stories, Reed has released The Song Is You (Blue Shorts Records, 2008), Born To Be Blue (Blue Shorts Records, 2011) and the present I'm A Shy Guy: A Tribute to the Cole Trio & Their Music. Reed's performance remains at an amazing, even otherworldly, level. Co-producer and jazz vocalist and educator in her own right, Laurie Antonioli reveals of the Cole sessions:

"On the first day of most recording projects, it takes time to get people settled, get the sound right and hopefully you'll get a few tunes out of the deal. This is not what happened with the "Nat" session. On day one, from the very first song it was all there. The sound,the band, the tempos and interaction. But most importantly Ed was in fine voice and was a real pro—like Sinatra or something. I think there are at least five first takes from that first day... My involvement, aside from some minor technical things on the vocal end, was simply to say "Let's keep going." The flow was magical and everyone could feel it... The next day the bulk of the recording was finished."

The danger with such sessions is that it all seems too easy and truly exceptional jazz singing, particularly male jazz singing, is anything but. That said, Reed stepped up and made this recording an effortless affair. Supported by a piano-guitar quintet, Reed spins through better and lesser known Cole book inclusions. Bobby Troupe's "Baby Baby All The Time" and Cole's timeless "Unforgettable" join "It's Only A Paper Moon" and "Straighten Up And Fly Right as the better known pieces. "Can't See For Lookin,'" "That's The Beginning of the End" and "Meet Me At No Special Place" represent the pithier and lesser known Cole classics that comprise this excellent collection where Ed Reed sings Cole like Ed Reed and not someone imitating Cole. It is this touch that makes I'm A Shy Guy: A Tribute to the King Cole Trio & Their Music so exceptional.

C. Michael Bailey - AllAboutJazz

Ed Reed: I’m a Shy Guy—A Tribute to The King Cole Trio and Their Music (Blue Shorts Records 004; 49:45; 4-stars)

The Bay Area’s Ed Reed, who made his recording debut at 77, seems to be just hitting his stride at 84; his singing has only grown stronger and more confident with age. Reed’s story is the ultimate second act. After decades of drug addiction and repeated incarcerations at San Quentin, he has risen to become a critically acclaimed jazz singer. Reed’s is the voice of experience and hard-won wisdom. On this rounded collection of famous and lesser-known King Cole Trio sides, he takes his time with each lyric, singing dependably behind the beat. Many singers have done Cole tributes recently, but Reed’s is among the best. Without stooping to imitate, he captures the spirit of Cole’s wry humor and charm.

Allen Morrison - DownBeat Magazine, December 2013

“Since recording his first album at the age of 78, Reed has taken his rightful place as one of jazz's most keenly observant singers, a balladeer with a fine-grained baritone who turns familiar standards into wrenching tales. Over the years there have been several dozen jazz artists who returned to the limelight after long stretches in obscurity, but Reed is that rarest of cases, a musician who has come into his own late in life. And with every performance he seems to make up for lost time. Given his track record of exponential creative growth over the past four years it might be premature to say that "Born to Be Blue" is Reed's definitive statement, but his third album possesses all the distilled emotion and narrative coherence of a jazz masterpiece.”

Andrew Gilbert
July 21, 2011 - The Mercury News

“Reed has developed a jazz voice that is distinct—full of the pain, sorrow, love and beauty that go along with taking that long, hard trail through life. All of that is on full display here. When Ed Reed sings... look for an intimate story every time. On Born To Be Blue, he tells these stories through songs like Nat Adderley’s “Old Country” and other chestnuts like “She’s Funny That Way” and “Monk’s Dream.” But when he sings Abbey Lincoln’s “Throw It Away,” he establishes a connection to the lyrics and phrasing of the Hall of Fame artist that is both beautiful and uncanny. Born To Be Blue is the kind of record that makes you happy that this life offers people more than one chance to offer their gift to the world…”

Frank Alkyer
July 11, 2011 - DownBeat

...his third CD, "Born to Be Blue" has just been released...it's his best work...the man is an ageless prodigy...These are ballads, a lost art in music. And Reed's phrasing is as distinctive as his improvising - The Mercury News

...his third CD, "Born to Be Blue" has just been released...it's his best work...the man is an ageless prodigy...These are ballads, a lost art in music. And Reed's phrasing is as distinctive as his improvising - The Mercury News

"Stylistically harkens back to the elegant tenderness of Johnny Hartman...richly insightful...intensely moving...hypnotic renderings..." - JazzTimes (Vox)

The Richmond-based singer puts me in mind of Jimmy Rushing, Joe Lee Wilson, Abbey Lincoln - folks who sing (or sang) from the gut, from life experience, doing it with nobility and smarts, while feeling inside a lyric." - The Mercury News

Reed has a unique voice...nuanced and experience...sings with straight grace and confidence." - AllAboutJazz 6/14/11

Reed has a unique voice...nuanced and experience...sings with straight grace and confidence." - AllAboutJazz 6/14/11

Hearing him on Victor Young's "Ghost of a Chance," the Ellington/Strayhorn "Day Dream," and Gordon Jenkins's "Goodbye" underscored how much I have missed, for years, the enveloping sensuous balladry of Duke Ellington's Herb Jeffries and the conversational intimacy of Johnny Hartman in his sessions with John Coltrane.

Mr. Reed's "hypnotic baritone," as Christopher Loudon described it in Jazz Times, is heard in a continuing, luminous autobiography in "Love Stories" - one of dreams destroyed, regained, abandoned and surprisingly fulfilled. He uses space like an inner musical instrument.

Nat Hentoff
June 16, 2009 - Wall Street Journal

Ed Reed is a storyteller, one who pours both his heart and nearly 80 years of life expriences...into a phrase. On his recent first recording, "Ed Reed Sings Love Stories" (2007), he debuted a lush tone that belied his age. Here [on "The Song Is You"] Reed and company serve as tour guides using tempo and timbre to present exceedingly fresh takes on a selection of songs that leans almost exclusively on the Great American Songbook.

Elliott Simon
July 2008 - All About Jazz: New York

A master balladeer and a jazz singer in the truest sense, [Reed] absorbed the influences of Nat "King" Cole and Bill Henderson while honing an idiosyncratic style with phrasing that flows according to a lyric's emotional contours.

Andrew Gilbert
July 20, 2008 - Boston Sunday Globe

The City Paper: Nashville’s Daily News

Reed has so much sheer power, authority and conviction that you think you’re hearing someone far younger on “The Song Is You” (Blue Shorts). His renditions of “Where or When,” “I Get Along Without You Very Well,” “It Shouldn’t Happen To A Dream,” and “I Didn’t Know About You” don’t merely skip through the melody and zip into chord changes and alterations. Reed deftly explores the narratives within the song, carefully developing the storylines, clearly and cleanly presenting the lyrics and really making every tune a personal journey rather than simply a cover. Then, after 12 examples of mainly adhering to the jazz canon, his final number “Black Is” puts some topical fire and social edge into the proceedings … A mighty work…

Ron Wynn, Riffs
July 9, 2008
- The City Paper: Nashville's Daily News

When he hit the stage at The Jazz Standard on October 29, there was an energy in the room that was palpable. Reed ... gave a languid and bluesy reading of ["A Sleepin' Bee"] that set the tone for what was to come. His sandy baritone, a big suggestive of Eddie Jefferson or Jon Hendricks, but softer in texture, hewed closely to the melody, but he altered notes here and there in a way that lent emphasis to certain words or phrases, making his take on the song uniquely personal...Reed is a singer who truly uses his hands to augment his lyric readings, and on "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing" he almost made you see the blooms that are mentioned in the words. The regretful lyric of "Ask Me Now" was wistfully communicated by Reed, making you ponder upon how many times in life you rue not listening or caring when you really should have done so...With the conclusing selection, there was no doubt that on this evening the song was Ed Reed.

Joe Lang
January 2008 - Jazz Improv New York

[Reed] is mostly a balladeer who delivers each song like an expert ranconteur passing on hard-won wisdom, as on an aching version of "Ghost of a Chance."

Andrew Gilbert
April 2008 - Stereophile.com

Ed Reed is a storyteller, one who pours both his heart and nearly 80 years of life expriences...into a phrase. On his recent first recording, "Ed Reed Sings Love Stories" (2007), he debuted a lush tone that belied his age. Here [on "The Song Is You"] Reed and company serve as tour guides using tempo and timbre to present exceedingly fresh takes on a selection of songs that leans almost exclusively on the Great American Songbook.

Elliott Simon
July 2008 - All About Jazz: New York

A baritone in the classic tradition of Johnny Hartman, Reed wrings all the sun-dappled romanticism out of ballads like Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing, but also grooves with ease and grace on "Bye Bye Blackbird." His timing, phrasing and intonation are ...unaffected by the wear-and-tear toll of aging ...his voice resonates with rich, dark, lower-register colors used to powerful effect on his moving, a capella rendition of the spiritual, "Motherless Child." A bebop-oriented improviser, Reed has a thorough grasp of chord changes, knowledge that helps him improvise as fluently as a horn player.

Owen McNally
February 7, 2008 - Hartford Courant

These 11 exquisite tracks do more than just shine; they resonate from the depths of despair and self-navigated disappointment...What Reed does with the likes of "A Sleepin' Bee," "Ask Me Now," "Ghost of a Chance," "Daydream," and an "If the Moon Turns Green" that even Billie Holiday would surely bow to - each imbued with the wisdom and satisfaction that comes from a life lost and then regained - is transporting...Indeed, here's hoping he spends as many of his remaining days as possible in the studio, crafting similarly priceless jewels.

Christopher Loudon
August 2007 - Jazztimes

Reed's performances are warm, soft at the edges and full of character. He keeps things unpredictable, making surprising jumps up and down the register, while imbuing his delivery with an emotional quality that many young singers simply lack the life experience to match.

Forrest Dylan Bryant
September 29, 2007 - jazzwest.com

A baritone in the classic tradition of Johnny Hartman, Reed wrings all the sun-dappled romanticism out of ballads like Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing, but also grooves with ease and grace on "Bye Bye Blackbird." His timing, phrasing and intonation are ...unaffected by the wear-and-tear toll of aging ...his voice resonates with rich, dark, lower-register colors used to powerful effect on his moving, a capella rendition of the spiritual, "Motherless Child." A bebop-oriented improviser, Reed has a thorough grasp of chord changes, knowledge that helps him improvise as fluently as a horn player.

Owen McNally
February 7, 2008 - Hartford Courant