After the wonderful Cotton Club Parade show at New York City Center, I ducked across the street (on 55th) to Abbocato (which means "pleasing to the mouth" and "a touch of sweetness")Ristorante for an amazing Italian dinner (and in the process discovered the great white wine Falanghina). Next on yesterday's agenda was jazz singer Mary Stallings with the Eric Reed Trio at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.
Mary Stallings, born in 1939 and the eldest of 11 children) began her profession career while still in high school. One night in the early 60's in a San Francisco nightclub, Dizzy Gillespie invited Mary out of the audience and onto his bandstand to sing. She went on to perform at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival with Gillespie at age 26. She spent a year performing with Billy Eckstine, has shared the bill with Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett, and spent 3 years as vocalist with the Count Basie Band. Mary returned to full time singing at the end of the 1980's (after giving birth to Adriana, now R&B singer Adriana Evans) and came to the attention of the national jazz audience in 1994 with the release of the aptly titled I Waited For You (on Concord Jazz).
Eric Reed began playing piano at age 2, and at age 16 met Wynton Marsalis, briefly touring with him 2 years later and then joining his septet. Eric next worked with Freddie Hubbard and then joined the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In 2010 he joined Christian McBride's combo Inside Straight which produced the great album Kind of Brown. Joining Eric at Dizzy's were Reuben Rogers on bass and Carl Allen on drums.
