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Andy Bey

Singer Andy Bey is one of this country's best-kept secrets as an interpreter of the American songbook. Born on Oct. 28, 1939, in Newark, N.J., Bey was self-taught at the piano, and by the age of 3 could play by ear (he did receive formal lessons in piano and singing later on).

In the early 1950s, Bey got his first real professional exposure with the television show "Startime," with Connie Francis. He was with the show for five years. During this time (1953), he sang with Louis Jordan at the Apollo Theatre in New York. With the name Andy and the Bey Sisters, he worked for 10 years with his sisters Geraldine and Salome, touring internationally.

By the early 1970s, Bey was touring with the Thad Jones- Mel Lewis big band (for a year), and doing a fair amount of collaborating, singing in a number of different styles and genres. Artists included Horace Silver, Stanley Clarke and Gary Bartz. His own band, Experience And Judgment, of this time reflected a then-vogue East Indian flavor. He continued to work with Silver into the 1980s, and collaborated with Fred Hersch in 1996. His first American album in 20 years was Ballads Blues And Bey (Evidence, 1996), a recording of tunes by Strayhorn, Ellington, Gershwin and Porter.

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11
Interview

Meet Andy Bey

Read "Meet Andy Bey" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in February 2000. Listening for the first time to Andy Bey is like stepping into a quiet, still lake. Your foot first parts a surface that's smooth and tranquil, but you can't really tell from that surface how deeply your foot must go to reach bottom. The first time you hear Bey's delicate yet muscular voice alone, accompanied only by his own piano, or in larger ...

5
Album Review

John Sneider: The Scrapper

Read "The Scrapper" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If you expected a trumpeter whose nickname is “Scrapper" to come out swinging on his first album as leader in twenty years, give yourself a gold star and a hearty pat on the back. That is precisely the modus operandi on The Scrapper, wherein New York-based John Sneider leads a first-rate quintet through its paces on what in many respects seems like a homecoming, as everyone save tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm was present and accounted for on Sneider's earlier recording ...

4
Radio & Podcasts

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

Read "We Grow Accustomed to the Dark" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This early November broadcast includes new releases from vocalists Andrea Superstein, Marsha Bartenetti, Ben Sidran and pianist Julia Hulsmann with birthday shout outs to guitarist Amanda Monaco, trumpeter Clifford Brown, pianist Dawn Clement, plus vocalists Ethel Waters, Andy Bey, Jay Clayton, Carmen Lundy, Kurt Elling, K.D. Lang, Julie Kelly and Sarah Partridge, among others. Playlist Pam Fleming Fearless Dreamer “Keep It Movin" from Buds (Infinite Room RPM) 00:00 Sarah Partridge “At Seventeen" from Bright Lights and Promises (Origin) ...

6
Live Review

48th Annual Pitt Jazz Seminar

Read "48th Annual Pitt Jazz Seminar" reviewed by Mackenzie Horne


48th Annual Pitt Jazz Seminar Various Venues Pittsburgh, PA November 1-3, 2018 The Pitt Jazz Seminar took place the first weekend of Novenmber under the musical direction of Terri Lyne Carrington; Thursday, Friday, and early Saturday were packed with guest lectures while the all-star concert was scheduled for 7:30 on Saturday evening. Sean Jones and Reginald Veal were facilitating a lecture on community outreach in the Hill District, the historic cradle of Pittsburgh jazz, at ...

156
Album Review

Andy Bey: Ain't Necessarily So

Read "Ain't Necessarily So" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


The supple, nurturing hands and voice of pianist/vocalist Andy Bey generally dispenses most music in two flavors, either a ballad or a blues. This live recording during Bey's first headline appearance at the world famous jazz hotspot Birdland continues his series of albums with producer Herb Jordan, who like most listeners, remains amazed at Bey's subtle musicianship: “He approaches chord changes and rhythm in a way that many others just do not. He finds harmonic subtleties that escape many singers."

423
Album Review

Andy Bey: Ain't Necessarily So

Read "Ain't Necessarily So" reviewed by Martin Longley


Singer Andy Bey is less well known as a pianist, but nowadays he leads his trio from the piano stool, his instrumental wanderlust having an equal capacity to his voice for taking a saunter down the less familiar alleyways. This live album was recorded a decade back at Birdland, in what was effectively Bey's first significant New York residency as a leader. He's joined by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington on most of the numbers, with sticksman Vito ...

391
Album Review

Andy Bey: Ain't Necessarily So

Read "Ain't Necessarily So" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Andy Bey is the finest male jazz vocalist performing today. This may stick a finger in the eye of such talent as Kurt Elling or Mark Murphy, both contemporaries chronologically opposed; but both of these artists readily acknowledge the immense talent of Bey.

He is no young lion exploding out of the woods from the dark. Bey has been performing since the mid-1960s when he debuted with Now, Hear (Prestige, 1964). He recorded sporadically through 1970, ...

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Contest

Enter the "Andy Bey - The World According to Andy Bey" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Enter the "Andy Bey - The World According to Andy Bey" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the HighNote Records “Andy Bey - The World According to Andy Bey“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on September 17th. Click here to enter the contest

(Becoming a fan of Andy Bey at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck! Your Friends at HighNote Records About The World According to Andy Bey

Andy Bey — vocalist, pianist, composer — ...

Festival

Blue Note Jazz Fest 2013: Roy Haynes, Andy Bey, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and more

Blue Note Jazz Fest 2013: Roy Haynes, Andy Bey, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and more

Source: Carolyn McClair Public Relations

Blue Note Jazz Festival PRODUCED BY JILL NEWMAN PRODUCTIONS Blue Note Jazz Festival PAUL MOONEY BB King Blues Club & Grill Produced By Jill Newman Productions in Assoc. with PM7 Entertainment June 16, 2013 237 W 42nd St. NY, NY 10036 Show 8pm - Doors 6pm Tickets $35.00 in advance, $40.00 day of show Mr. Paul Mooney was born in Louisiana and grew up in Oakland, California. As ...

143

Festival

Jazz Festival: Andy Bey's Still Learning After All These Years

Jazz Festival: Andy Bey's Still Learning After All These Years

Source: All About Jazz

VANCOUVER - Jazz vocalist-pianist Andy Bey will turn 70 next year and has been playing music professionally since he was five. Yet he still feels he has a lot to learn. “I'm learning all the time and I look forward to creating music every day," Bey says by phone from his home in Manhattan. Bey fronts a trio Saturday, June 28, 8 p.m., at the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts. “There is so much in the world that ...

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Recording

New Live CD by Singer Andy Bey Due for October 30 Release

New Live CD by Singer Andy Bey Due for October 30 Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Since Andy Bey's return to recording in 1996, after an absence of more than two decades, he has emerged as a preeminent interpreter of the Great American Songbook and one of jazz's vocal masters. Ain't Necessarily So, scheduled for release on October 30 by 12th Street Records, is his newest CD, the fifth in the indispensable series of recordings he has created with producer Herb Jordan, and his first since 2004. The disc was recorded at Birdland in May 1997 ...

128

Recording

New Live CD by Vocalist Andy Bey Due for October 30 Release

New Live CD by Vocalist Andy Bey Due for October 30 Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Since Andy Bey's return to recording in 1996, after an absence of more than two decades, he has emerged as a preeminent interpreter of the Great American Songbook and one of jazz's vocal masters. Ain't Necessarily So, scheduled for release on October 30 by 12th Street Records, is his newest CD, the fifth in the indispensable series of recordings he has created with producer Herb Jordan, and his first since 2004. The disc was recorded at Birdland in May 1997 ...

152

Performance / Tour

Geri Allen & Andy Bey Bethany Baptist Church Jazz Vespers Saturday, April 7th at 6PM Sharp

Geri Allen & Andy Bey Bethany Baptist Church Jazz Vespers Saturday, April 7th at  6PM Sharp

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

"Come as you are" to the Jazz Vespers on Saturday, April 7, 2007 at 6pm sharp.

Bethany Baptist Church 275 West Market Street Newark, NJ 07103 (973)623-8161 www.bethany-newark.org

Guest artists: Geri Allen (Piano) and Andy Bey (Vocals)

Jazz pianist and educator Geri Allen, who hails from Detroit, Michigan, knew she wanted to be a jazz musician after spending most of her childhood listening to her father's jazz records. She now plays some ...

159

Festival

Tallinn International Festival Jazzkaar Features Andy Bey, Mike Stern and Archie Shepp

Tallinn International Festival Jazzkaar Features Andy Bey, Mike Stern and Archie Shepp

Source: All About Jazz

Tallinn international Festival Jazzkaar offers 50 colorful concerts in 13 places over Estonia from 20th to 28th of April, 32 of them in Estonian capital Tallinn. The highlights of the 18th festival Jazzkaar are one of the top vocalists Andy Bey, guitar virtuoso Mike Stern, sax legend/bandleader and composer Archie Shepp from the USA, Incognito - the popular band from British clubs, and from Spain a flamenco group of new generation Ojos de Brujo, who's music unites tradition and modern ...

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Performance / Tour

Thalia Music Welcomes Andy Bey

Thalia Music Welcomes Andy Bey

Source: All About Jazz


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Performance / Tour

Andy Bey in Seattle - August 27-28, 2004

Andy Bey in Seattle - August 27-28, 2004

Source: All About Jazz

Legendary Vocalist and Pianist Andy Bey will be making a rare appearance in the Seattle area on Friday, August 27, and Saturday, August 28, 2004, celebrating the release of his newest CD, AMERICAN SONG/

The group will comprise of Andy Bey on vocals/piano and the great Paul Meyers on guitar.

Location The Triple Door 216 Union Street Seattle, CA 98101

Showtimes are 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM (call club to confirm). For further information, ...

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Performance / Tour

Avery Brooks Joins Andy Bey as Special Guest at Le Jazz Au Bar

Avery Brooks Joins Andy Bey as Special Guest at Le Jazz Au Bar

Source: All About Jazz


Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Scrapper

Cellar Records
2020

buy

Ain't Necessarily So

12th Street Records
2007

buy

'Round Midnight

Prestige Records
2007

buy

Been Down This Road Before

From: Been Down This Road Before
By Andy Bey

Videos

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