JAZZ REVIEW : Eric Reed Improvises the Past

One of the most admirable aspects of the upcoming jazz generation is the extent to which young musicians have absorbed the vast repertoire of this music. A splendid example was the performance Thursday, at the Brasserie of the Bel Age Hotel, where pianist Eric Reed was in charge.

At 22, Reed is capable of decade-hopping with incredible ease. In the course of one set he swung his way jubilantly through jazz lines by Gillespie, Parker, Rollins, Clifford Brown, and ballads by Gershwin and Porter.

To say that there was no originality would be false. For example, on “Night in Tunisia” Reed used the standard introduction of melody, the traditional interlude between choruses and the regular out-chorus. But everything in between was the product of his own fertile, improvisational mind, or those of his two brilliant colleagues, Billy Higgins on drums and Bob Hurst (of the Branford Marsalis band) on bass.