Mary Stallings: SF Jazz Legend at the Rrazz Room
Rrazz Room @ Hotel Nikko (222 Mason Street San Francisco, CA 94102)
- Full Price:
- $35.00
- Our Price:
- $17.50*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for Mary Stallings with the Eric Reed Trio have expired.
The last date listed for Mary Stallings with the Eric Reed Trio was Sunday February 5, 2012 / 5:00pm.
Currently at Rrazz Room @ Hotel Nikko:
Smooth Soul at the Rrazz Room With the Dramatics
- Full Price:
- $50.00
- Our Price:
- $25.00
Enjoy some classic smooth soul and quiet storm R&B in the sophisticated and intimate setting of the Rrazz Room, one of San Francisco's premiere night clubs. In their early '70s heyday, the Dramatics were an anomaly: a Detroit singing group signed not to their famed hometown label, Motown, but to the legendary Southern soul label Stax/Volt. Their sound, as heard on hit singles like "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" and "In the Rain," straddles both worlds, combining the Temptations-like silky-smooth harmonies of Motown with the earthiness of Memphis-style soul. Still performing after more than 40 years, the group features veteran member L.J. Reynolds along with Willie Ford, Donald Albert and Winzell Kelly. Learn More
Goldstar Member Tips
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Goldstar Member on Where to Park
The hotel Nikko is only 2 blocks from Powell BART
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Goldstar Member on Where to Park
Try the Stockton-Sutter Garage on the other side of Union Square.
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sfdee on Other
Anzu, restaurant upstars from Rrazsz Room is great for dinner after a show
6 Goldstar Member Reviews
Marky Quayle
I was very disappointed in the show because I came to hear Mary sing Standards. I heard her once before at Bix restaurant where she has sung weekly for about 20 years I think. That night she was magnificent: she sang beautifully the Great American Songbook but the restaurant was somewhat noisy and many customers were talking while dining not listening to her sing. I thought how wonderful to hear her in a setting that is just for her to shine. Much to my regret she sang mostly rhythm and blues songs and hardly any jazz standards at all. The show was not enjoyed by me because I am not a big R & B fan. Had I known that would have been her repertoire I certainly would NOT have gone to the show nor would I have invited a guest. I think since she's known for singing standards, she should have advertised this would be a different theme to give us a true sense of what she'd be performing. Then those of us who want to hear her sing what she does so well, could have stayed home and those who love the R & B could've come out.Written on Feb 14 2012
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Goldstar Member
Mary is fantastic. I remembered her from the New Orleans Bar and Grill in Oakland's Montclair district in the early 70s. She and her group are amazing. And I love the Rrazz room. Its like enjoyed 5 star entertainment in your own living room.Written on Feb 06 2012
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Goldstar Member
Mary Stallings is a treasure, and gave a top-notch performance at the Rrazz Room with her trio, including outstanding drummer Akira Tana and bassist Rob Belcher. Her choice of material, including originals, is excellent, and she pulled the place apart with her delivery of "Yesterdays." Stallings' encore of "Centerpiece" signalled creativity and a deft sense of scat. She is a most excellent singer, jazz musician and devotee of Song. All four of us were knocked out.Written on Feb 06 2012
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dslayne
Mary Stallings and her group put on an active energetic show. She engaged her audience and the audience loved it.Written on Feb 06 2012
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More Information About Mary Stallings with the Eric Reed Trio
Quotes & Highlights
- “Stallings’ voice is supple and timeless… encompassing the whole history of music.” --San Francisco Chronicle
- "Perhaps the best jazz singer alive today is a woman almost everybody seems to have missed. Her name is Mary Stallings." --The New York Times
Description
Mary Stallings is a Bay Area native who established a name for herself as one of the finest jazz singers of the 1960s, performing with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, Billy Eckstine, and Count Basie.
After taking a hiatus from her recording career in the 1970s to raise her daughter and work as a clothes designer, Stallings stepped back into the national jazz spotlight in 1999 when the owner of the famous Village Vanguard nightclub in New York heard a recording of her singing and eventually tracked her down at her home in San Francisco. Ever since then, jazz fans have had the pleasure of rediscovering Stallings, whose voice and phrasing continued to mature and improve during her long sabbatical. In 2006 she was presented with the San Francisco Jazz Festival’s Beacon Award for her contributions to jazz in the Bay Area.
"I had a huge voice when I was just eight years old," says Mary Stallings about her beginnings as a singer. It was a voice too big to ignore - spanning almost four octaves. Few could. By the time she was 11, she had made her first solo recording and while still in high school she joined Louis Jordan's Tympani Five. She came of age in the big band era, and was invited to tour as vocalist with most of the major names of the time. "It was the best musical education I could have had," explains Mary, "I was fired from lessons for playing everything from memory." Instead, her education came a bit more unconventionally, including stints with the Grover Mitchell - Earl "Father" Hines band, three years touring the U.S. and Europe with Count Basie, and sharing the bill with Joe Williams, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald. "I met all the heroes of the music and then got a chance to work with them," she says.
Although Mary took time off from touring and recording during the '70's, she never stopped singing. So when she re-emerged back onto the jazz scene reinvigorated, with a sound that gave homage to her past but held a freshness and vigor, she immediately caught the attention of the music press, who called her "stunning" and a "jazz vocal sensation." During this period, she released several critically acclaimed CDs, one which made many of the year-end "best-of" lists, another that went to the top 10 on the Gavin Jazz Chart.
Today, Mary Stallings combines the grace and grandeur of experience with an undiluted passion for performing in her Live At The Village Vanguard release. With its blend of old and new, smoky standards and take-your-breath-away ballads, the CD, in many ways, reflects this current milestone in Mary's career. "This is the right time for me to be singing these songs," she says. "I pick songs that feel delicious to me, songs that I relate to at the time, songs that I love. That's what you'll find here."