Randy Porter, piano
John Wiitala, bass
Jamie Fox, guitar
Akira Tana, drums
Anton Schwartz, tenor sax

★★★★ “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, December 2013

“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.” —Frank Alkyer, DownBeat (Editor’s Pick), October 2013