I'm A Shy Guy

This recording has been a long time coming. It's a story that began in the early 1940s when I was 14. I knew-and sang obsessively, my mother would say-every tune the King Cole Trio recorded. The Trio was unique-groundbreaking-during the era of big bands. Nat was a great jazz pianist and, when he started singing and recording romantic ballads, blues, and jump tunes with the Trio, he became a radio star. I especially loved his ballads. When Nat sang I'm Lost I knew exactly what he meant because I felt like the saddest, most lovesick, lost kid on the planet. I felt like I didn't fit in any place, but I could sing. And in truth, the only way I could talk to girls was to sing Nat's ballads to them on the phone. The King Cole Trio performed one day at my school-Jordan High School in Watts (South Los Angeles). Nat was so calm, cool, and sophisticated. I wanted to be just like him. Afterwards, the Trio spent time with those of us who were choir members. I was very excited. But seeing Nat in person, I was filled with such awe that when he spoke to me, I was too shy to even say hello or shake his hand! Now, here I am some 70 years later, remembering those days and honored to be able to pay tribute to the King Cole Trio and their music. 'I'm a Shy Guy' is an irresistible collection of ballads, blues and swing tunes-13 King Cole Trio songs that the group recorded during the 1940s, plus the post-trio Nat King Cole favorite Unforgettable from 1951. REVIEWS DownBeat Editor's Pick, October 2013 BY FRANK ALKYER Ed Reed, I'm A Shy Guy (Blue Shorts Records) 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 Review, Allen Morrison, December 2013 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 ja