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Born in 1939, the Newark (NJ) native was a genuine child prodigy as a pianist and singer, garnering appearances at the famed Apollo Theater and on television’s "Spotlight On Harlem"and "The Star Time Kids," sharing stages with the likes of Louis Jordan, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, before he turned 18. He then formed a vocal trio alongside his sisters Salome and Geraldine and embarked for Europe; Andy& The Bey Sisters were celebrated regulars at The Blue Note in Paris and other venues in Europe from the late 1950s into the early 1960s, when they returned to the U.S. and continued to perform and record (for RCA and Prestige) until the trio disbanded in 1966.
For the two decades thereafter, Bey recorded and performed with such notables as McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Liston Smith, Thad Jones / Mel Lewis, Eddie Harris and others. He was featured vocalist on Gary Bartz’ acclaimed Harlem Bush Music projects and for an extended period with Horace Silver, including Silver’s The United States of Mind album sequence. In 1991, Bey returned to Europe to teach vocal instruction in Austria; he remained there until 1993, when he returned to the States to record his "comeback album,"accompanied only by his own piano, called Ballads, Blues & Bey.
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 following that swears by him; nonetheless, he isn't nearly as well known as he should be.
Andy's latest album, Ain't Necessarily So will be released 10/30 and captures Bey's first headlining engagement ever at a major New York nightclub—May 13 through 15, 1997, at Birdland—sandwiched on the club’s calendar between Kurt Elling and Jimmy Scott. Ain’t Necessarily So presents eight selections from that gig, on which Bey was supported by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington.
In addition to reprising “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” from Ballads Blues & Bey, the set finds Bey vocally and pianistically reinventing the Gershwins’ “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” Mary Rodgers and Martin Chamin’s “Hey, Love,” Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “All the Things You Are,” Cy Coleman and Carol Leigh’s “On Second Thought,” and the Yip Harburg-Jay Gorney Depression-era anthem “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
For more information on Andy and the release, please refer to Andy's BIOGRAPHY blog.
