American jazz singer and pianist
Andrew W. Bey (born October 28, 1939) is an American jazz singer and pianist. Bey has a wide vocal range, with a four-octave baritone voice.
Raised in Newark, New Jersey, Bey attended Newark Arts High School.
Career.
He worked on the 1959/1960 television show "Startime" with Connie Francis, and sang for Louis Jordan. At age 17, he formed a trio with his siblings Salome Bey and Geraldine Bey (de Haas) called Andy and the Bey Sisters. The trio went on a 16-month tour of Europe. The jazz trumpeter Chet Baker's 1988 documentary "Let's Get Lost" includes footage of Bey and his sisters delighting a Parisian audience. The trio recorded three albums (one for RCA Victor in 1961 and two for Prestige in 1964 and 1965) before breaking up in 1967. Bey also worked with Horace Silver and Gary Bartz.
In 1973, 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" (1974), which was influenced by Indian music. He then returned to hard bop, and recorded covers of music by non-jazz musicians, such as Nick Drake.
In 1976, Bey performed in a theatre production of Adrienne Kennedy's "A Rat's Mass" directed by Cecil Taylor at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan. Musicians Rashid Bakr, Jimmy Lyons, Karen Borca, David S. Ware, and Raphe Malik also performed in the production. Taylor's production combined the original script with a chorus of orchestrated voices used as instruments.
Bey's other albums include "Ballads, Blues &amp; Bey" (1996), "Tuesdays in Chinatown" (2001), "American Song" (2004) and "Ain't Necessarily So" (2007). He received the "2003 Jazz Vocalist of the Year" award by the Jazz Journalists Association. His album "American Song" received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2005.
Bey is openly gay. In 1994, he was diagnosed as HIV-positive, but has continued his career, maintaining a lifestyle that includes yoga and a vegetarian diet. Producer Herb Jordan supported Bey in the resurgence of his recording career, and their 1996 recording "Ballads, Blues &amp; Bey" returned Bey to prominence.
He has been a longtime-resident of Chelsea, Manhattan.
Discography.
With Andy and the Bey Sisters
With Gary Bartz
With Stanley Clarke
With Gerry Eastman
With Howard McGhee Orchestra
With Bob Malach
With Grachan Moncur III
With Mtume Umoja Ensemble
With Duke Pearson
With Max Roach
With Horace Silver
References.
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