Customer Reviews

Ain't Necessarily So (Dig)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
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...you must consider this guy. He has the goods. Great voice, great piano work. Fine ear for melody and all the stuff that gets thrown in to make amazing jazz music what it is. And he works so well with other musicians. It really adds up to a wonderful listening experience.

Its also interesting to consider that this is only now being released -- two years after the original live dates were recorded!

As I listen to it, I want to hit a club and get pulled into a great evening of live jazz performance. If only time travel was possible...I'd know exactly what club and what nights to aim for!

There are relatively few great male jazz vocalists out there today. For my money, you can keep Buble and the other Sinatra impersonators (including Harry Connick Jr.) and I'll take one original like Mr. Bey any time!

He's been around and he still can make the music interesting, relevant and wonderfully enjoyable! Its great to have this record of a master at work.

Wow. I'm speechless. I haven't been this speechless since...I reviewed the last Andy Bey c.d. in 2004, "American Song."

2004 was an exceptionally strong year for vocal jazz; but I was and am of the strong opinion that "American Song" was the best of a group of outstanding c.d.'s for that year, and arguably the best of this decade. Among other things, it raised the question: "What can Andy Bey possibly do for an encore?"

What he did was to release in 2007 a live recording of the best of a 3-day gig from May of 1997 in Birdland, NYC. No overdubbing, no mixing of prerecorded tracks here; I can only assume that we are hearing what the very lucky concertgoers heard, with Andy Bey both playing piano and singing, Peter Washington on bass, and for the most part Kenny Washington on drum (with Vito Lesczak sitting in on the two uptunes, tracks four and eight).

And, I can only assume that Mr. Bey both sang and played while sitting down. And I am thoroughly blown away.

How in the world can anybody play a first class jazz piano and be a first class jazz singer at the same time? When I think of the best piano-voice duet album, Bill Evans and Tony Bennett, I think of two musicians with total concentration, feeding off each other's inspiration. How can one person duplicate that? How can one person split his brain in two, and have the left side play off the right side and vice versa, as though he were two people?

It's virtually impossible to do. And yet, Andy Bey comes as close as any human being could to pulling that feat off here.

Sure, his touch gets a little heavy, a little chordal while he sings. (Though listen to what he's capable of doing on "If I Should Lose You," when he doesn't sing and therefore can concentrate on playing more lyrically and with greater flow.) And sure, he has to slip into a lot of falsetto at the top of his four octave range instead of going full voice, like he otherwise would, in order to keep the piano going.

But even so, he's amazing. His falsetto well carries over the sound of the instruments. And he holds notes on "Hey, Love" and "On Second Thought" for seemingly ever--while sitting down, apparently. That is incredibly difficult to do. Many trained opera singers couldn't pull this off; Andy Bey does it twice.

And listen to what he does on the whippy, scatting version of the normally dirgy "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" If someone else were accompanying, this would be first-class, breathtaking bending of lyric and melody. Yet, the accompaniment tracks the singing, filling the missing spaces just right. Just incredible.

Or listen to the bluesy, melody bending changes on "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart." Again, this would be an incredible performance if he just sang it this way. How did he pull this off?

The best two years for vocal jazz this decade have been 2004 and 2007. They also are the years Andy Bey has released recordings. Coincidence? I think not. RC

I heard Andy Bey recently in concert with his trio. With his talented, young musicians, Bey is bringing 60 years of musicianship and making jazz new again. There are many jazz musicians with good, even superb technique. Bey has technique, soul, and the imagination to reinvent jazz. He takes jazz standards apart and puts them back together right in front of your ears.

And his voice, even at 68, has an extraordinary range and set of sounds, from falsetto to bass.

Bey is an original. Take yourself to a venue where he is performing, 'cause you won't see his like again soon.

Andy Bey: Wow! A sexy, 70-something jazz singer who cradles his piano and gives back. Thank you, Andy, for keeping keeping on! Come back to Seattle, one more time again. Here's another keeper-CD from this wonderful singer a powerful listen: American Song!

Not to overcomplicate things, just know this: This album and Andy Bey's "American Song" are simply among the very best vocal jazz albums ever recorded. They are both a sublime balance of smooth sophistication and innate swing. Truly gorgeous albums that are both complex and uncomplicated.
Andy Bey has grown in to a master and both albums are wonderful mood pieces that can be appreciated as easily as background music as it can by the deepest jazz fan.

I do recommend this album for anyone who likes to hear a unique male jazz vocalists in a live performance. The record is quite good. The band is not playing any note more than they should. They have nice and easy going, smooth. The way that Andy Bey uses his voice is tremendous. He has a bluesy approach. The songs are well chosen. It was a good choice for me to get knowing more about him.

I heard Andy Bey on the radio and went looking for an album. Just when you thought no one could give a fresh interpretation of an old standard, Andy Bey does. Highly recommended.

My first Andy Bey CD. A singing Ahmad Jamal spiked with gospel. Whimsical, eccentric, evocative, repetitive, lyrical. His interpretations run the gamut from seemingly self-indulgent to exquisite, but the good times outweigh the bad. He is an always interesting original and at his best a memorable musical storyteller.