Andrew W. Bey (born October 28, 1939) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

singer and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

. Bey has a wide

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of st ...

, with a four-

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

baritone voice. Raised in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

,Adler, David R
"Andy Bey"
''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of grow ...

'', April 25, 2019. Accessed December 14, 2020. "We are sitting in Bey’s studio apartment on the western edge of Manhattan’s Chelsea district, where he has lived for the last 13 years. Originally from Newark, N.J., Bey knew the Shorter brothers-Wayne and Alan-when they were both teenagers." Bey attended

Newark Arts High School Newark Arts High School is a four-year magnet public high school, serving students in Ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Newark Public Schools. The school is located in ...

Career

He worked on the 1959/1960

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

'' Startime'' with

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

, and sang for

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

. 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 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. The jazz trumpeter

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

's 1988 documentary '' Let's Get Lost'' includes footage of Bey and his sisters delighting a

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

ian audience. The trio recorded three albums (one for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Ar ...

in 1961 and two for Prestige in 1964 and 1965) before breaking up in 1967. Bey also worked with

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

and

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Works ...

. In 1973, Bey and

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

were the featured vocalists on

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...

's album ''

Children of Forever ''Children of Forever'' is the debut album by jazz fusion bassist Stanley Clarke. It was recorded in December 1972, and was released in 1973 by Polydor Records. On the album, Clarke is joined by vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Andy Bey, flutist A ...

''. Later, Bey recorded the album '' Experience and Judgment'' (1974), which was influenced by

Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk ( Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ov ...

. He then returned to

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gosp ...

, and recorded covers of music by non-jazz musicians, such as

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognit ...

. In 1976, Bey performed in a theatre production of

Adrienne Kennedy Adrienne Kennedy (born September 13, 1931) is an American playwright.Peterson, Jane T., and Suzanne Bennett. "Adrienne Kennedy". ''Women Playwrights of Diversity''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 201–205. She is best known for '' Funnyhous ...

's ''

A Rat's Mass ''A Rat's Mass'' is a poetic, magical-realist one-act play by Adrienne Kennedy, a 20th-century African-American playwright. The play portrays the negative aspects of the black experience in the United States by depicting two African-American child ...

'' directed by

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in th ...

in the East Village of Manhattan. Musicians Rashid Bakr,

Jimmy Lyons Jimmy Lyons (December 1, 1931 – May 19, 1986) was an American alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit. Lyons was the only constant member of the band from the mid-1960s until his death. Taylor never ...

Karen Borca Karen Borca (born September 5, 1948 in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is an American avant-garde jazz and free jazz bassoonist. Early life and education Borca studied music at the University of Wisconsin with John Barrows and Arthur Weisberg, gradua ...

, 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.La MaMa Archives Digital Collections
"Production: ''Rat's Mass, A'' (1976)". Accessed August 8, 2018.
Bey's other albums include ''Ballads, Blues & 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 The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2016, it has approximately 250 members, including professional journalists, students, ind ...

. His album ''American Song'' received a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2005. Bey is openly gay. In 1994, he was diagnosed as

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

, but has continued his career, maintaining a lifestyle that includes

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-conscio ...

and a vegetarian diet. Producer Herb Jordan supported Bey in the resurgence of his recording career, and their 1996 recording ''Ballads, Blues & Bey'' returned Bey to prominence. He has been a longtime-resident of

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its nort ...

Awards and honors

* 2003: Jazz Vocalist of the Year,

* 2005: Grammy nomination, Best Jazz Vocal Album for ''American Song'' * 2014:

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

Jazz Critics Poll, Best Vocal Album for ''Pages from an Imaginary Life''

Discography

* 1974: '' Experience and Judgment'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

) * 1991: ''As Time Goes By'' (Jazzette) * 1996: ''Ballads, Blues & Bey'' (

Evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, eviden ...

) * 1998: ''Shades of Bey'' (Evidence) * 2001: ''Tuesdays in Chinatown'' ( N-Coded) * 2003: ''Chillin' with Andy Bey'' (Minor Music) * 2004: ''American Song'' ( Savoy Jazz) * 2007: ''Ain't Necessarily So'' (12th Street) * 2013: ''The World According to Andy Bey'' (

HighNote HighNote Records is a jazz record company and label founded by Joe Fields with his son, Barney Fields, in 1997. Joe Fields worked for Prestige Records in the 1960s, and in the 1970s founded Muse Records. After he sold Muse, he started the Hi ...

) * 2014: ''Pages from an Imaginary Life'' (HighNote) With Andy and the Bey Sisters * 1961: ''Andy and the Bey Sisters'' (

) * 1964: ''Now! Hear!'' ( Prestige) with

Jerome Richardson Jerome Richardson (November 15, 1920 – June 23, 2000) was an American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist, and flute player, who also played soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo. He played with Ch ...

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

* 1965: '' 'Round Midnight'' (Prestige) with Kenny Burrell,

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

Osie Johnson James "Osie" Johnson (January 11, 1923, in Washington, D.C. – February 10, 1966, in New York City) was a jazz drummer, arranger and singer. Johnson studied at Armstrong Highschool where he was classmates with Leo Parker and Frank Wess. He fi ...

With

* 1971: '' Harlem Bush Music - Taifa'' (

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the rou ...

) * 1971: '' Harlem Bush Music - Uhuru'' (Milestone) * 1972: '' Juju Street Songs'' (Prestige) * 1973: ''Follow, the Medicine Man'' (Prestige) With

* 1973: ''

'' (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

) With

Gerry Eastman Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

* 1995: ''Songbook'' (Williamsburgh Music Center) With Howard McGhee Orchestra * 1966: ''Cookin' Time'' (Zim) With Bob Malach * 1995: The Searcher (Go Jazz) With Grachan Moncur III * 1977 ''Shadows'' (

Denon is a Japanese electronics company started in 1910 by Frederick Whitney Horn, an American entrepreneur. Denon produced the first cylinder audio media in Japan and players to play them. Decades later, Denon was involved in the early stages of de ...

) With Mtume Umoja Ensemble * 1972: ''Alkebu-Lan: Land of the Blacks (Live at the East)'' With

Duke Pearson Columbus Calvin "Duke" Pearson Jr. (August 17, 1932 – August 4, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer. ''Allmusic'' describes him as having a "big part in shaping the Blue Note label's hard bop direction in the 1960s as a record produ ...

* 1969: '' How Insensitive'' (

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

) With

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

* 1968: '' Members, Don't Git Weary'' (Atlantic) With

* 1970: '' That Healin' Feelin': The United States Of Mind / Phase 1'' * 1988: ''

Music to Ease Your Disease ''Music to Ease Your Disease'' is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver, his fifth and final release on the Silverto label, featuring performances by Silver with Clark Terry, Junior Cook, Ray Drummond, and Billy Hart, with vocals by Andy Bey. ...

'' (Silveto) * 1993: '' It's Got to Be Funky'' (Columbia) * 1996: ''

Total Response ''Total Response'' (subtitled ''The United States of Mind Phase 2'') is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note Records, Blue Note label in 1972 featuring performances by Silver with Cecil Bridgewater, Harold Vick, Richi ...

'' (Blue Note)

References

External links

Bey's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections

Andy Bey & Andy and the Bey Sisters biography by Alex Henderson, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

Andy Bey discography, album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Andy 1939 births Musicians from Newark, New Jersey Newark Arts High School alumni People from Chelsea, Manhattan 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American male singers American jazz pianists American jazz singers American male pianists American male singers American gay musicians LGBT African Americans LGBT people from New Jersey Living people American male jazz musicians Prestige Records artists HighNote Records artists African-American pianists People with HIV/AIDS 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century African-American musicians