Nancy Reed & Spencer Reed: Happying

The jazz world encompasses a multitude of local communities. Jazz came to Delaware Water Gap and the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania via the inns and summer resorts for which the region has been known since the second decade of the 19th century, attracting New Yorkers and Philadelphians seeking summer refuge and fresh woodland air. By the time singer-bassist Nancy Reed and singer-guitarist Spencer Reed arrived there from New York in 1976, a scene had been building for a quarter century, which included such renowned musicians as pianists Bob Dorough, David Frishberg, John Jr. Coates and Keith Jarrett; saxophonists Al Cohn, Phil Woods and Dave Liebman; drummers Bill Goodwin, Jerry Segal and Dottie Dodgion, bebop trumpeter Norma Carson and singer-pianist Flo Handy Cohn (née Flora Morse), among notable others. Jazz musicians from the city worked at Mt. Airy Lodge at the behest of saxophonist-bandleader Bob Newman (Carson's husband), who engaged them to play nightly dance sets and shows for headlining singers and comedians, and to participate the after-hours jam sessions that ensued at The Deer Head Inn, which—as "the home for jazz in the Poconos" for some 70 years—claims the tile of "oldest continuously running jazz club in the country."

What brought Nancy and Spencer to town were fulltime gigs at the resorts, playing dances and shows. Spencer's first job was on drums at Tamiment, while—a few years later—Nancy assumed the position of bandleader at The Hillside Inn. Founded in the 1950s, The Hillside catered to African Americans and Jews who were denied access to some of the other local resorts. The Reeds have remained in the area since, forming their first duo together in 1977, then performing in tandem and separately for virtually all the regional venues and releasing some dozen albums, their work admired by jazz fans and musical colleagues alike. Happying presents material from previously unreleased sessions, a few of which Spencer recorded on a Tascam 8-track cassette recorder back in the early 1980s.

"Cheerful Little Earful," the delightful album opener, features multiple generations of Pocono players, Goodwin—the august elder—at the drums, Jay Rattman—the youngest member—on alto saxophone, with the Reeds—situated generationally in between—singing and playing. A lesser-known tune by Harry Warren with lyric by Ira Gershwin and Billy Rose, it was written for the Broadway musical Sweet and Low (1930), starring Fanny Brice.

"Feel Like Makin' Love" is another standout track, capturing a warm breeze and a popular era. The tune was a huge hit for Roberta Flack (Feel Like Makin' Love, Atlantic, 1974). Shortly thereafter, it became a standard of the day, with versions in rapid succession from Johnny Mathis (The Heart of a Woman, Jon Mat Records, 1974), Lou Rawls (She's Gone, Arista, 1974), Marlena Shaw (Who Is This Bitch Anyway, Blue Note, 1975), Gladys Knight & The Pips (2nd Anniversary, Buddah, 1975), among others. The piece was written by singer-songwriter Eugene McDaniels, whose "Compared to What" was also an early hit for Flack (First Take, Atlantic 1969) and an even bigger one for Les McCann and Eddie Harris that same year (Swiss Movement, Atlantic). The Reeds' version has an authentic period feel and groove—cooled down just a notch from the Flack original—with a perfect sprinkling of synthesizer stardust from keyboardist Peter Philips' Yamaha DX7. Nancy Reed's singing is—as always—gorgeous, subtly expressive, pitch perfect and effortlessly swinging.

Nancy's superb vocal and a lovely solo from Liebman on soprano saxophone make Robert Lamm's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is" a highlight of the album. (Check YouTube, bottom of this page.) The arrangement expands on a little 5/8 passage from the intro of the original release (Chicago Transit Authority, Columbia Records, 1969), the self-titled debut album of the popular jazz-rock group now known as Chicago. Whimsically, the Reeds recast the entire piece in a meter of 5, with Nancy's voice floating gracefully over the time as she articulates the meter with her bass beneath. The piece culminates in a freewheeling group improvisation with vocal overdubs from Nancy, and Spencer joining in on percussion.

Spencer unleashes his rocking guitar on the closing tune, Joseph (Flip) Nuñez's "Happying," the album's title track, which sums up a vibe the Reeds bring to their dates in the Poconos and elsewhere. Their buttery vocal blend, instrumental prowess and manifest joy in performing continue to sustain a musical partnership that has become synonymous with the best in homegrown Pocono jazz for nearly 50 years.