Arts Listings

Ed Reed, the remarkable jazz singer who launched his first CD at Anna’s Jazz Island just a few months back, returns to the downtown club Saturday night at 8 and 10, with a stellar band, to display the warmth, range and interpretive style of his voice, making his album title, Ed Reed Sings Love Songs, a natural. 

Appearing with Reed are Peck Allmond, the Berkeley-raised, New York-based reeds and trumpet virtuoso who coproduced Reed’s CD; Jamie Fox on guitar; Rob Fisher on bass, and noted Bay Area band leader (for Peck Allmond and many others) Eddie Marshall on drums. 

Since the CD release party at Anna’s, Reed has continued his standing Tuesday evening gig at The Cheeseboard on Shattuck, but has begun to play bigger venues and festivals. He’s garnered some enthusiastic reviews: one from James Isaacs on Boston’s WBUR, one in the current issue of Jazz Is and others. KQED just shot footage to feature Reed in a local program. This fall he’ll sing in Boston on a bill headlined by George Benson. Reed will perform at the Jazzschool in November, and there are negotiations going on to have him sing locally with one of his own favorite vocalists, the masterful Bill Henderson. 

“It never occurred to me it would take off like this,” said Reed. “I never saw it coming. I was just doing my thing, and all of a sudden ...” 

He credits much of the new interest and recognition to Terri Hinte, the publicist formerly associated with Fantasy Records, who introduced herself to Reed at the CD party, and has been working with him since. “She knows everybody,” Reed said. “And she’s become a friend.” 

But Reed’s moment has come after a life of singing, at first onstage around LA with many of the musical greats he grew up with in Watts, and later featured in a popular radio show in Bakersfield. A career as a singer was thwarted many times, by years of drug use and prison terms. Ironically, Reed met well-known players in prison who were old friends, and performed with them there in shows and sessions that were never recorded. 

The break finally came when Reed met Peck Allmond (an alumnus of Berkeley High’s famous jazz program) who was teaching at a music camp, and Allmond joined forces with Budd Spangler to produce the CD, released just after Reed’s 78th birthday. 

Now—and for decades—a successful, self-employed group leader and speaker for approaches to living for ex-addicts and their families, which Reed once referred to as “how to get along with yourself,” the Richmond resident expressed his gratitude for the show of interest in his artistry. But he still was a little incredulous: “People figure, ‘I want to be known’ ... but I never dreamed ... I don’t know how to plan my days, so much is going on!” 

ED REED AND PECK ALLMOND QUARTET 

8 p.m. Saturday at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.annasjazzisland.com.