"I was interested in blues and swing before I was even born. I took to it so quick," she said. "There's the swinging, bluesy black background music and there's the other side of the tracks pop music.
" Reynolds has always been more attracted to the music of Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald and other black musicians of that era. She never really showed any interest in Frank Sinatra, who ruled the pop airwaves of yesteryear. "I like songs that have spunk, a lot of movement, a lot of activity," she said.
"I hear them. I do them. I play them the way I hear them.
" Reynolds and Maine swing violinist Joel Glassman will perform in duo at the Minstrel Coffeehouse in Morristown Dec. 15. "I played at a breast cancer benefit concert for the Folk Project back in June.
Joel was there and we played a couple of tunes together," she said. "We'll be playing swing. I always come up with a few surprises, too.
" Tonight's program should include their interpretations of swing and blues tunes made famous by Bob Wills, Benny Goodman, Stuff Smith, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael, Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald. Reynolds first became interested in swing, blues, country and Appalachian music while growing up in Flanders. Her father was a businessman, but he enjoyed playing music as a hobby.
He worked with the Dapper Dans of Harmony in Livingston. Under his influence, Reynolds learned standards such as "If I Knew Suzie,""Bye Bye Blackbird,""Sunny Side of the Street" and "Shine on Harvest Moon." Her older brother, Kenny, played guitar in the Mustangs, a band that often performed at Bernie's Hillside Lounge in Chester.
He brought home Cozy Cole, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis recordings and other R B hits from the 1950s. "It was all this heavy-bottom, boogie-woogie stuff and I just ate it up," she said. Her favorite singer from that period was Connie Francis.
"She could belt out a song like crazy. She was a wonderfully strong singer," said Reynolds. "Smooth.
Never hit a bad note in his life, Perry Como," she said. Her brother, Carl, introduced her to country music. Her sister, Patti, gave her an appreciation for folk and blues.
Reynolds' youthful enthusiasm for good music carried over into her adult life, too. "I started doing Bessie Smith blues in the '70s," she said. "Now I'm studying more Delta blues.
I've been listening to a lot of the guitar blues like Blind Blake, Mississippi John Hurt. Mississippi John McDowell is one of my favorites. You hear the nuances of these old Delta blues players and you can realize how the blues got into jazz and swing.
" Reynolds is a proud mother of four grown children. Her eldest son, Eli, 23, is studying for his associates degree at County College of Morris. Her daughter, Iris, will soon graduate from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Another daughter, Reina, is a sophomore at William Mary College. Her youngest son, Harlan, 15, is a sophomore, who sings in the Noteworthies a cappella group at West Morris Central High School. Apart from her solo performances and work with her band, Rhythm Is Our Business, Reynolds keeps busy working in duo with tap dancer Dorothy Wasserman in Naughty Sweeties and directing her 11-woman a cappella group, The Schooleys Mountain Peaches.
All these projects fall under her title Well Made American Music. "I don't really have a lot of projects," she said modestly. "That's because I'm so busy with my family and my own life.
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