Andy Bey

All Music Guide:

One of the great unsung heroes of jazz singing, Andy Bey is a commanding interpreter of lyrics who has a wide vocal range and a big, rich, full voice. Bey enjoys a small following that swears by him; nonetheless, he isn't nearly as well known as he should be. Born and raised in Newark, NJ, not far from New York, Bey was exposed to jazz as a child and started singing in front of local audiences as early as eight. At some gigs, an eight-year-old Bey was accompanied by tenor sax great Hank Mobley. Bey was 13 when, in 1952, he recorded his first solo album, Mama's Little Boy's Got the Blues; and he was 17 when he formed Andy & the Bey Sisters with his siblings Salome and Geraldine in 1956. The group did a 16-month tour of Europe and recorded three albums (one for RCA Victor in 1961, two for Prestige in 1964 and 1965) before breaking up in 1967. In the 1960s and 1970s, Bey's vocals were featured by Max Roach, Duke Pearson, and Gary Bartz (for whom he delivered very socio-political lyrics, including some searing condemnations of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War). The 1970s also found Bey recording Experience and Judgment for Atlantic and beginning a long association with pianist Horace Silver, who featured him prominently on many of the religious-themed albums he put out own his own Silveto label in the 1970s and 1980s. The LPs contained what Silver termed "metaphysical self-help music" and preached a sort of religious self-help philosophy that wasn't unlike Reverend Ike's message -- unfortunately for Silver and Bey, this approach meant limited distribution and little commercial appeal. Bey continued to work with Silver into the 1990s, when he was featured on Silver's 1993 Columbia date It's Got to Be Funky (which marked a return to hard bop's mainstream and did much better commercially than his "self-help music"). Labels Bey recorded for as a leader in the 1980s and 1990s included Jazzette, Zagreb, and Evidence, which, in 1996, released the superb Ballads, Blues and Bey. The success of Blues, Ballads and Bey set-up a position for the pianist to stretch out a little and explore his more intimate side. Bey followed with Shades of Bey in 1998 and Tuesdays in Chinatown in 2001, choosing to explore outside the world of jazz with covers of Nick Drake and Milton Nascimento and others. American Song followed in early 2004.

Wikipedia:

Andrew W. Bey (born October 28, 1939 in Newark, New Jersey) is a jazz singer and pianist.

Bey has a wide vocal range, with his four octave baritone voice.

He worked on a television show, Startime, with Connie Francis and sang for Louis Jordan. He was 17 when he formed a trio with his siblings Salome Bey and Geraldine Bey (de Haas), called Andy and the Bey Sisters. The group did a 16-month tour of Europe. The Chet Baker documentary Let’s Get Lost shows footage of Andy Bey and his sisters delighting a crowd of Parisian partygoers. The trio recorded three albums (one for RCA Victor in 1961, two for Prestige in 1964 and 1965) before breaking up in 1967.

He also did notable work with Horace Silver and Gary Bartz.

In 1974, Bey and Dee Dee Bridgewater were the featured vocalists on Stanley Clarke's album Children of Forever. Later, Bey recorded the album Experience And Judgment, which had Indian influences. After that period he returned to hard bop and also recorded covers of music by non-jazz musicians such as Nick Drake.

Other albums include Andy Bey and The Bey Sisters, Ballads, Blues & Bey (1996), American Song (2004), Tuesdays In Chinatown, and Ain't Necessarily So (2007).

Andy Bey got the "2003 Jazz Vocalist of the Year" award by the Jazz Journalists Association.

The album "American Song" received a Grammy nomination for “Best Jazz Vocal Album” (2005).

Bey is an openly gay jazz musician. In 1994 Bey was diagnosed as HIV-positive, but has continued his career and maintained a regimen that includes yoga and a vegetarian diet. Colleague Herb Jordan assisted Bey with a resurgence of his recording career. Their recording Ballads, Blues, & Bey in 1996 returned Bey to prominence.

John Coltrane cited Bey as his favorite vocalist. (Savoyjazz.com)