Mary Stallings (born August 16, 1939) is an American jazz vocalist and mother of R&B soul singer, Adriana Evans.
Mary Stallings was born in San Francisco, California, one of eleven children. She grew up in the neighborhood of Laurel Heightssinging in the black gospel choir of the First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. By her teens, Stallings began singing in San Francisco-area night clubs such as the Hungry i, The Purple Onion, and El Matador. She performed with such artists as Ben Webster, Cal Tjader, Earl Hines, Red Mitchell, Teddy Edwards, and the Montgomery brothers (Wes, Monk, and Buddy).
Before graduating from high school, she joined R&B pioneer Louis Jordan’s Tympani Five. In the early 1960s, she performed with Dizzy Gillespie at San Francisco’s Black Hawk nightclub and eventually with Gillespie at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival.
Lullaby of Leaves
She is perhaps best known for her 1961 collaboration with vibraphonist Cal Tjader on the album Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings on Fantasy Records. Engagements inTokyo, Manila and Bangkok ensued, along with work up and down the West Coast. She spent a year in the late 1960s performing in Nevada with Billy Eckstine, and toured South America with Gillespie’s band in 1965 and 1966. She has shared the bill with singers such as Joe Williams, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald. From 1969-1972, she had a three-year residency as the Count Basie Orchestra “girl singer.” In 1972, in semi-retirement, she gave birth to her only child, R&B singer Adriana Evans.
Stallings returned to full-time singing at the end of the 1980s and finally came to the attention of the national jazz audience with the 1994 release of the aptly titled I Waited for You on Concord Jazz, with pianist Gene Harris’s quartet, featuring Ron Eschete (guitar), Luther Hughes (bass), and Paul Humphrey (drums). Highlights include two Benny Cartertunes, “Only Trust Your Heart,” and the opener “Where or When.”
Her album Spectrum (1995) features pianist Gerald Wiggins, Ron Escherte (guitar), Andy Simpkins (bass), and Paul Humphrey (drums). Trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edisoncontributes to six tunes.
I Just Dropped by to Say Hello
In Manhattan Moods (1997), Stallings is backed by pianist Monty Alexander, bassist Ben Wolfe and drummer Clyd Lucas, while Hendrik Meukens adds harmonica work on two tracks and plays vibes on “He Was Too Good to Me.” Dick Oatts plays flute on “How High the Moon” and “He Was.” Though often thought as a Dinah Washington disciple, Stallings’ emulation of Billie Holiday shows up on “Ghost of a Chance” and “You Go to My Head.”
Remember Love (2005) was produced by Geri Allen, who also plays piano and organ. The album peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard chart.
Mary Stallings has played at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1965, 1995, 2003 and 2013. The San Francisco Jazz Festival 2001, 2004, and 2006 was backed by the powerful 15-piece Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, with pianist Geri Allen She performed in 2005 with Clark Terry at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. The 2007 Georgia’s Savannah Music Festival accompanied by The Eric Reed Trio with Wycliffe Gordon. Jazz at Lincoln Center (2007), The Birth of Cool, highlighted Ms. Stalling’s interpretation of the Billie Holiday standards “Pennies From Heaven” and “Laughing at Life.”
A Sunday Kind of Love