Mary Stallings is one of the finest living jazz singers. Her voice is deep, hip and swinging. Most of all, she has soul—lots of knowledge and heart-felt experience built into her phrasing. Born in San Francisco in 1939, Stallings developed her singing chops in church before branching out to the city's many clubs as a teen. These included the Purple Onion, the Hungry i and El Matador. Along the way, she preformed with a sizable number of jazz legends, including Cal Tjader, Red Mitchell, Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster and the brothers Montgomery—Wes, Buddy and Monk.
Her first album was Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings, in 1961. Here's Why Don't You Do Right?...
Here she is singing The Party's Over on tour with Count Basie in Budapest, Hungary, in 1970...
And here's Serenade in Blue from I Waited for You with the Gene Harris Quartet in 1994...
One of my favorite Mary Stallings albums is Songs Were Made to Sing, recorded for Smoke Sessions in 2018. She was backed by Eddie Henderson (tp), Vincent Herring (as), David Hazeltine (p), David Williams (b), Joe Farnsworth (d) and Daniel Sadownick (perc). The songs are Stolen Moments, Lover Man, Blue Monk, Ill Wind, While We're Young, Lady Bird, When I Close My Eyes, Prelude to a Kiss, Third Time Is the Charm, 'Round Midnight, Soul Mates, Give Me the Simple Life and Sugar.
What I love most about Stallings is her style, which seems to have been influenced by Carmen McRae with a touch of Nancy Wilson. This doesn't mean she sings like Carmen or Nancy, just that she phrases in places like them. Stallings has her own thing, which always sounds great. No matter how difficult the song, her voice is warm, round and understands the essence of the song she's singing. For me, I can't stop listening to her whenever she's on.
Note to the NEA: Mary Stallings is an extraordinary jazz singer and deserves to be an NEA Jazz Master.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Mary Stallings's Songs Were Made to Sing here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Stolen Moments...
And here's 'Round Midnight...
