Born: February 2, 1929 Primary Instrument: Vocal
In his 82 years, Ed Reed has gained great insight into the joys and especially the sorrows of the human condition. The San Francisco Bay Area-based jazz vocalist, who made his recording debut just four years ago, has imparted what he has learned with consummate musical subtlety, emotion- searing depth of feeling, and the nuanced delivery of a master storyteller on his critically-acclaimed CDs, “Ed Reed Sings Love Stories” (2007) and “The Song Is You” (2008). Those two recordings were collections of terrific tunes from the Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and jazz traditions drawn from Reed’s near-encyclopedic knowledge of the Great American Songbook. Likewise are the 13 selections on his third release, “Born to Be Blue” (issued in 2011 on his Blue Shorts Records label, as were the previous two), yet they are more thematically focused on the poignant life lessons we all experience as human beings.
Reed was born in Cleveland, Ohio and relocated at age 7 with his family to Los Angeles where his father worked as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad and was active in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Ed Reed fell in love with jazz on the radio and, at age 11, and learned how to sing to chord changes from Charles Mingus, his then-teenage neighbor. He began using heroin while in the army and, after being kicked out, returned to Los Angeles and launched a singing career that was periodically undermined by his addiction. He was in and out of prison during much of the ’50s and ’60s, yet managed to continue singing. During his last of his three stretches at San Quentin, he performed with the Warden’s Band, a 17-piece jazz orchestra that also included saxophonist Art Pepper.
Clean and sober for the past 25 years, Ed Reed works with addicts, alcoholics, and their families as a health educator. In the early 1990s, he started singing publicly again at San Francisco Bay Area restaurants and clubs. In 2005, he attended JazzCamp West and met multi-instrumentalist Peck Allmond, who convinced him he had to record.
In 2008 and again in 2009, Reed placed fourth in the “Male Vocals, Rising Star” category of the DownBeat Critics Poll. He was the featured guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz hour-long National Public Radio program in 2008, the subject of a Wall Street Journal article by Nat Hentoff in 2009, along with numerous other reviews and articles in national jazz publications and news media.
Since the release of his debut disc, he has appeared at a number of the world’s most prominent jazz venues, including Yoshi’s in both Oakland and San Francisco, the Brasserie Jazz Lounge in Los Angeles, Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle, the Jazz Standard in New York City, Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, and Marians Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland. Coming to terms with the pain and sadness in life has been a key to Reed’s recovery and one that he imparts to others, both in his health lectures and now in the songs on “Born to Be Blue.”
Awards:
2011, 2008, 2007 DownBeat Critics Poll: Rising Star in Male Vocalist category "Jazz Hero" Award. Jazz Journalists Association, 2011.“...his third CD, “Born to be Blue,” is his best work...These are ballads, a lost art in music...Reed's phrasing is as distinctive as his improvising.” The Mercury News 7/11/11
“A unique voice...nuanced and experienced...sings with straight grace and confidence.” AllAboutJazz June 2011
“Time has only enriched Reed’s voice, a hypnotic baritone that suggests Grady Tate via Billy Eckstine … 11 exquisite tracks … What Reed does with the likes of “A Sleepin’ Bee,” “Ask Me Now,” Ghost of a Chance,” “Daydream” and “If the Moon Turns Green” that even Billie Holiday would surely bow to … is transporting.” --Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes, August 2007
“Reed…has a smooth, expressive, and caramel-toned voice, precise diction and exact intonation.” --Jazziz, June 2007
“A jazz singer in the truest sense, Reed absorbed the influences of Nat King Cole and Bill Henderson while honing an idiosyncratic style all his own ... the CD is a gorgeous calling card.” --Andrew Gilbert on The California Report (KQED/NPR), 6/22/07
“[Reed’s] debut disc … is absolutely ravishing from beginning to end…” --James Isaacs on “Here and Now” (WBUR/NPR), 5/29/07
“Sings with the fire of a young man … His a cappella performance of ‘Motherless Child’ closes the album with an impressive display that channels centuries of sorrow into every syllable.” --j. poet, S.F. Examiner, 7/4/07
“Where have you been hiding, Ed Reed? The entire jazz world needs to hear you!” --Sheila Jordan
The Song is You (Blue Shorts Records, 2008)
Ed Reed Sings Love Stories (Blue Shorts Records, 2007)
Born to Be Blue (Blue Shorts Records, 2011):
Tracks: Old Country; Born to Be Blue; Inside a Silent Tear; Throw It Away; All My Tomorrows; End of a Love Affair; She's Funny That Way; You're Looking at Me; Some Other Time; Never Kiss and Run; Monk's Dream; How Am I to Know; Wee Baby Blues
Personnel: Ed Reed: vocals; Randy Porter: piano; Robb Fisher: bass; Akira Tana: drums; Anton Schwartz: tenor sax
The Song is You (Blue Shorts Records, 2008)
Tracks: The Song Is You; It Shouldn't Happen To a Dream; Where Or When; I'm Through With Love; All Too Soon; I Get Along Without You Very Well; I Didn't Know About You; Don't You Know I Care; Lucky To Be Me; Don't Like Goodbyes; It Never Entered My Mind; Here's To Life; Black Is
Personnel: Ed Reed: vocals; Peck Allmond: trumpet, tenor sax, flutes, cornet, clarinet; Jamie Fox: guitar; Russell George: violin; Gary Fisher: piano; Doug Weiss: bass; Willard Dyson: drums
Ed Reed Sings Love Stories (Blue Shorts Records, 2007)
Tracks: A Sleepin' Bee; There's a Lull In My Life; Ghost of a Chance; Bye Bye Blackbird; A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing; Where Do You Start; Daydream; Ask Me Now; If The Moon Turns Green; Goodbye; Motherless Child
Personnel: Ed Reed: vocals; Peck Allmond: trumpet, tenor sax, flutes, clarinets, trombonium, kalimbas; Gary Fisher: piano; John Wiitala: bass; Eddie Marshall: drums
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