Eric Scott Reed (born June 21, 1970) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist and composer. His group

Black Note Black Note were an American jazz ensemble formed in 1991. The band released four albums, on Columbia Records, Impulse! Records, Red Records and World Stage. They won first prize at the John Coltrane Young Artist Competition in 1991.

released several albums in the 1990s.

Biography

Reed was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He began playing piano at age two, was playing piano in his minister father's church by age five, and at age seven began formal study at Philadelphia's

Settlement Music School Settlement Music School is a community music school with branches in and around Philadelphia. Founded in 1908 by two young women, Jeannette Selig Frank and Blanche Wolf Kohn, it is the largest community school of the arts in the United States. It ...

. At age 11 his family moved to Los Angeles, and he studied at the R. D. Colburn School of Arts. In May 1986, at Colburn School, Reed met

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

, an encounter that would greatly aid his career. At age 18, during a year of college at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

, Reed briefly toured with Marsalis. He joined Marsalis's septet a year later, and worked with him from 1990 to 1991 (in 1991–1992 he worked with

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

and

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

), and again from 1992 to 1995. He later worked with the

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The Orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City. History In 1988 the Orchestra was formed a ...

for two years (1996–1998), and led his own group in 1999. Reed has worked with Robert Stewart,

Irvin Mayfield Irvin Mayfield Jr. (born December 23, 1977) is an American trumpeter, composer, bandleader and educator. On November 3, 2021, Mayfield was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defrauding the New Orleans public library system from over one mill ...

Cassandra Wilson Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wi ...

Mary Stallings Mary Stallings (born August 16, 1939) is an American jazz vocalist and mother of soul singer Adriana Evans. Biography One of eleven children, Mary Stallings was born in San Francisco, California. She grew up in the neighborhood of Laurel Hei ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

Dianne Reeves Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is an American jazz singer. Biography Dianne Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a musical family. Her father sang, her mother played trumpet, her uncle is bassist Charles Burrell, and h ...

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrate ...

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded nu ...

Paula West Paula West (born April 5, 1959) is an American jazz and cabaret singer. Early career West was born on April 5, 1959, and raised in the San Diego, California area, the daughter of a Marine Corps family. As a child she was not much exposed to jazz ...

, and

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

. In 2010 he joined the

Christian McBride Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is an eight-time Grammy Award winner. McBride has performed and recorded with a number of j ...

combo Inside Straight, which produced the album '' Kind of Brown''. Reed has also worked as a composer, scoring music for independent and mainstream films, including the comedy ''Life'', featuring

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...

and

Martin Lawrence Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American comedian and actor. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. He got his start playin ...

. Three of his albums have charted on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

' Top Jazz Albums chart: 1995's ''The Swing and I'' (peak No. 22); 1998's ''Pure Imagination'' (peak No. 8); and 1999's ''Manhattan Melodies'' (peak No. 21).

Allmusic.com

Discography

As leader

* 1990 ''Soldier's Hymn'' ( Candid) * 1993 ''It's All Right to Swing'' ( MoJazz) * 1994 ''The Swing and I'' (MoJazz) * 1995 ''West Coast Jazz Summit'' (Mons) with

Ralph Moore Ralph Moore (born 24 December 1956) is an English jazz saxophonist. Early life Moore was born in Brixton, London, England. His mother was the dancer Josie Woods, and his father was in the US military. He spent his childhood in Brixton, and afte ...

, Robert Hurst, Jeff Hamilton * 1996 ''Musicale'' (

Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

/ GRP) with

Nicholas Payton Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973) is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a prolific and provocative writer who comments on a multitude of subjects, inc ...

Wycliffe Gordon Wycliffe A. Gordon (born May 29, 1967) is an American jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. Gordon also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano ...

Wessell Anderson Wessell "Warmdaddy" Anderson (born 1966) is an American jazz alto and sopranino saxophonist. Anderson grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, and played jazz early on at the urging of his father, who was a drummer. He played in loca ...

* 1997 ''

Pure Imagination "Pure Imagination" is a song from the 1971 film ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory''. It was written by British composers Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley specifically for the movie. It was sung by Gene Wilder who played the character of ...

'' (Impulse!/GRP) * 1999 ''Manhattan Melodies'' (Impulse!/GRP) * 2000 ''Happiness'' ( Nagel-Heyer) * 2000 ''EBop'' (

Savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calcu ...

) el. 2003* 2001 ''Mercy and Grace'' (Nagel-Heyer) el. 2003* 2001 ''WE'' (Nagel-Heyer) el. 2001with Wycliffe Gordon * 2002 ''From My Heart'' (Savant) * 2003 ''Cleopatra's Dream'' (M&I/

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

) * 2003 ''Merry Magic'' (

Maxjazz Maxjazz (corporately styled MAXJAZZ) was an American jazz record label founded in 1998 by investment banker Richard McDonnell. Maxjazz recordings are generally regarded as a "straight-ahead" acoustic style of jazz. It was based in St. Louis, Miss ...

) * 2004 ''Impressive & Romantic: The Great Composers We Love'' (M&I/Pony Canyon) * 2005 ''Blue Trane'' (M&I/Pony Canyon) * 2005 ''Here'' (Maxjazz) el. 2006* 2006 ''Blue Monk'' (M&I/Pony Canyon) * 2006 ''WE 2'' ( WJ3) el. 2007with Wycliffe Gordon * 2008 ''Stand!'' (WJ3) el. 2009* 2009 ''Plenty Swing, Plenty Soul'' (Savant) el. 2010with

Cyrus Chestnut Cyrus Chestnut (born January 17, 1963) is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer. In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for ''Time'', wrote: "What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes ...

* 2011 ''The Dancing Monk'' (Savant) * 2011 ''Something Beautiful'' (WJ3) * 2012 ''The Baddest Monk'' (Savant) * 2013 ''Reflections of a Grateful Heart'' (WJ3) * 2014 ''The Adventurous Monk'' (Savant) * 2014 ''Groovewise'' ( Smoke Sessions)

As sideman

With

* 1992 ''

Citi Movement ''Citi Movement (Griot New York)'' is an album by jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis that was released in 1992. Track listing Personnel * Wynton Marsalis – trumpet, arranger, liner notes * Wycliffe Gordon – trombone * Wessell Anderson – ...

'' ( Columbia) * 1994 ''

Blood on the Fields ''Blood on the Fields'' is a two-and-a-half-hour jazz oratorio by Wynton Marsalis. It was commissioned by Lincoln Center and treats the history of slavery and its aftermath in the United States of America. The oratorio tells the story of two slav ...

'' (Columbia) el. 1995* 1994 ''

Joe Cool's Blues ''Joe Cool's Blues'' is an album by jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his father Ellis Marsalis that was released in 1995. The album reached a peak position of No. 3 on ''Billboard''s Top Jazz Albums chart. The album consists of a series of so ...

'' (Columbia) el. 1995* 1994 '' Standard Time, Vol. 4: Marsalis Plays Monk'' (Columbia)

el. 1999 EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

* 1999 '' Standard Time, Vol. 6: Mr. Jelly Lord'' (Columbia) * 1999 ''Live at the Village Vanguard'' (Columbia) With Robert Stewart * ''Judgement'' (World Stage, 1994;

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, 1997) With Arkadia Jazz All Stars * ''Thank You, Joe! (Our Tribute to Joe Henderson)'' (

Arkadia Jazz Arkadia Records is an independent record label that was founded in 1996. The label was founded in New York City by Bob Karcy, who had been a manager for musicians and an independent record producer. The first release was Billy Taylor's ''Music Kee ...

, 1999) With

* '' Kind of Brown'' (

Mack Avenue Mack Avenue Records is an independent record label in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. Background Mack Avenue was founded in 1999 by Gretchen Carhartt Valade, a jazz fan and chair of the American apparel company Carhartt. The company is a sponsor ...

, 2009)

References

External links

Official Website
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080518081705/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=10611 Profileat AllAboutJazz.com * Eric Reedat Allmusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Eric 1970 births Living people American jazz composers American jazz pianists American male pianists Musicians from Philadelphia Impulse! Records artists Candid Records artists Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania 21st-century American pianists American male jazz composers 21st-century American male musicians Black Note members WJ3 Records artists Nagel-Heyer Records artists GRP Records artists Smoke Sessions Records artists