Andy Bey

Allegedly Coltrane’s favourite singer, Andy Bey recorded as vocalist for Max Roach (“Members, don’t git weary”), Horace Silver (“Won’t you open up your senses”), Gary Bartz (“Celestial blues”) and Stanley Clarke in the late sixties/early seventies, released one solo album, and then disappeared from view for over 20 years. "Shades of Bey" (originally released in 1998) showcases his four-octave range, the intimacy of love songs and raw power of the blues on a mixture of standards (“Pretty girl”, “Some other time”), Latin (“O cantador”, “Drume negrita”), modern (Nick Drake’s “River man”), and a couple of original tunes. Available for the first time on vinyl, it features Andy on vocals and on piano, and appearances from Gary Bartz and Geri Allen

Andy Bey's bass-baritone voice has aged over the last thirty-odd years, but it's aged well; he now sings in a husky drawl that sounds all the more warm and intimate for being a bit ragged around the edges. When he goes into falsetto, as on "Midnight Blue," athe sound is so dark that you don't recognize it as falsetto at first. This album peaks early on with "Like a Lover," a wistful love song with only the gentlest, sparest guitar accompaniment. But there are many other beautiful moments, the best of which always come on the slow numbers: the Billy Strayhorn classic "Pretty Girl," on which Bey sounds like Billy Eckstine with a weathered patina to his voice, and the surprising Nick Drake cover, the moody and intense "River Man." His vocal version of Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" is fun, but it tends to expose the limitations of his range; however, he makes the uptempo "Believin' It" work beautifully -- Geri Allen's edgy, modernist piano contrasts nicely with Bey's effusive, bop-inflected delivery. (allmusic)