Though he is a deftly understated piano player and a singer with a heartbreakingly pure voice, Andy Bey's recorded output is scant. Despite stints with the likes of Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Louis Jordan, Bey's only ... more »readily available work is this "comeback" disc released in 1996. Ballads, Blues & Bey is a showcase for Bey's range, which begins as a velvety smooth baritone and often launches into the tenor range to accommodate the emotional peaks and valleys in his repertoire of standards. Bey's treatment of those standards is deliciously slow. He draws out lines and adds pauses to squeeze a tune for everything it's worth. Bey uses the piano sparingly, only touching the keys to add color or nuance rather than rhythm and melody. Bey's take on these songs is delicate, as if too heavy a hand might tarnish the joy and sadness he's trying to evoke. A moving and beautiful disc. --S. Duda« less
Though he is a deftly understated piano player and a singer with a heartbreakingly pure voice, Andy Bey's recorded output is scant. Despite stints with the likes of Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Louis Jordan, Bey's only readily available work is this "comeback" disc released in 1996. Ballads, Blues & Bey is a showcase for Bey's range, which begins as a velvety smooth baritone and often launches into the tenor range to accommodate the emotional peaks and valleys in his repertoire of standards. Bey's treatment of those standards is deliciously slow. He draws out lines and adds pauses to squeeze a tune for everything it's worth. Bey uses the piano sparingly, only touching the keys to add color or nuance rather than rhythm and melody. Bey's take on these songs is delicate, as if too heavy a hand might tarnish the joy and sadness he's trying to evoke. A moving and beautiful disc. --S. Duda
"The opening track of this disc was played for a 'Blindfold Test' panel, at the 2003 Monterey Jazz Festival, that consisted of Kevin Mahagonny, Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy and Jon Hendricks. The audience was spellbound and the singers were unanimous in the special qualities and beauty of Bey's work. But the best way to describe this album was in Mark Murphy's words; "this is the tempo of love."All the tempos are slow, Bey's own accompaniments spare. He stretches out each tune, but his method is unique; he phrases almost independantly of the tune, but so musically and beautifully that it combines both the tension and release of the melodys all but breaking free from the harmonies, always to return, and of course the sheer expressive beauty of his voice, which is a wonder, but may not be to everyone's taste. It is an instrument, and he thinks instrumentally, unlike pop singers but like all the great jazz singers. In a serious way he is the opposite side of the coin to Betty Carter, each reworking the standard fare to discover the NEW, yet approaching from opposite directions. Cherishable."
Bey brings a new range to some good standards
A. Lear | New Mexico | 03/21/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Andy Bey's interpretations are original, evocative, and in a few cases haunting. I almost swooned at "Someone to watch over me." Bey redefines mellow -- yet in a few places (like "Yesterdays") he lets an edge creep in, which keeps things from getting mushy or maudlin. He is a class act."
THAT VOICE
Robert Bannerman | Wash., DC area | 03/21/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Very difficult to explain what Andy's voice does to and for me. I get the feeling at times that he records only for my personal listening pleasure. After an almost 15 year search, I was finally able to get Andy's first two recordings (albums)on CD. His two sisters accompanied him on both. The first album was entitled "Now hear this" and I forget the title of the second. Point: If you like Andy Bey, you absolutely must hear these recordings. His renditions of Round Midnight, In My Solitude and God Bless The Child are BREATH TAKING, PAINFUL, AND ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE. I'd be happy to share. Thank You"
Do yourself a favor and get this one.
Richard Thurston | Seattle, WA | 07/29/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An absolutely one of a kind performer. Subtle and blessed with a remarkable voice Bey delivers a song unlike anyone else I know of. Unhurried, Bey moves through a tune extracting the exact maximum effect from each lyric. Accompanying himself on piano the production is spare and elegant. A great, great singer."
A sound that captures the essence of pure intimacy.
Richard Thurston | 01/22/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Bey's style and sound are a perfect blend which could make any love -starved poet weep. Lovely, acustic piano playng complements Bey's raw, intimate sound."