Mary Stallings with Eric Reed (Ieft), Kevin Kenner and Hamilton Price©Glenn A. Mitchell

Vocalist Mary Stallings has enough talent to make all of her ongoing gigs nothing less than spectacular.  This was my first time hearing her and, as her website states, she had a “huge voice at only eight years old.”  This lady truly sings with 100% of her heart and mind!  A native of San Francisco strongly influenced by Carmen McRae, she is a singer that should be much more widely recognized for her talent and her gorgeous voice.   

The Culver Club at Double Tree Hotel, Culver City, has been hosting some of the best jazz on the planet for quite a while, booked by Merle Kreibich.  Tonight (June 24th) was a packed house, with the Eric Reed Trio (pianst Reed, bassist Hamilton Price and drummer Kevin Kanner) backing Stallings, giving the audience everything they needed and more. 

The Reed Trio played two numbers, “Blue Monk” and “Reflections,” from his newest CD, The Dancing Monk.  Both Price and Kanner dug into each piece, making an extremely tight trio experience.  “Blue Monk” was a rocking, driving medium tempo blues while “Reflections” was a serene and exquisite ballad.  

Marry Stallings©Andrea Canter

“Street of Dreams,” by Victor Young, is such a classy tune that it should be high on any standards list and always makes a wonderful groove.  Price delivered a wonderful bass solo that got lots of appreciation from Culver Club’s audience.  “Watching Me, Watching You” is a tune I hadn’t heard - maybe only once?  Stallings captured its feeling perfectly, as she does with everything she sings.   

Other tunes for the first show were:  “Hey Now” (a tune written by her children with fabulous lyrics); “Exactly Like You,” done in straight-ahead format with great grooved solos; “That Old Black Magic;” “Gypsy In My Soul;” “Before You Know It,” a tune with just bassist Price and Stallings; and the closer, “Moment to Moment,” with a Latinized introduction with Stallings completely convincing and unrelenting.  The Culver Club audience gave them all a standing ovation! Definitely a “best show.”  See Mary Stallings’s website at www.maxjazz.com/stallings and Eric Reed’s website at www.ericreed.net.                                                                            

Reprinted with permission from the July 2011 issue of LA Jazz Scene.

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