Andy Bey, whose haunting honeycombed baritone voice with 4 octaves eloquently remodeled any track from the Nice American Songbook into his personal signature tune, died on April 26 on the Actors Fund Dwelling in Englewood, N.J. He was 85.
His nephew, stage actor and singer Darius de Haas, stated he died of pure causes.
Bey, like Shirley Horne, loved the artwork of lingering area, silence that danced between notes that stretched phrases into eloquent picturesque ballads. He sang effortlessly behind the beat, however may then immediately be forward of the beat, dashing alongside in swish magnificence. His smoke-filled baritone pulled listeners into the midnight afternoon of his distinctive song-styled interpretations.
Take a hearken to any of his albums, like “It Ain’t Essentially So” (twelfth Avenue Music). On this well-traveled titled observe, he begins with deep melodic piano notes earlier than easing into this storied biblical story. His returns on the reduce “If I Ought to Lose You” have been all piano prowess — his enjoying was simply as beautiful as his singing; that got here out of soul with a style of R&B and blues.
Bey dared to construct a repertoire on ballads whereas diving deep into the emotional core of all of it. It was a uncommon willpower for a Black male singer on the earth of jazz, however Jimmy Scott, Arthur Prysock, and Al Hibbler had succeeded on such a path. Bey was absolutely a pacesetter in that legendary pack, together with Nat King Cole — considered one of his nice influences, together with Sarah Vaughan (whom he knew from Newark) and Billie Vacation.
Throughout his six-decade profession, Bey was awarded Jazz Vocalist of the 12 months various instances by the Jazz Journalists Affiliation, and NPR’s 2014 Jazz Critics Ballot award for Greatest Vocal Album for “Pages from an Imaginary Life.” His album “American Tune” obtained a Grammy nomination for Greatest Jazz Vocal Album in 2004, and he received in the identical class in 2013, for “The World In response to Andy Bey.”
Even in his octogenarian years, Bey confirmed no indicators of slowing down — he carried out till his final years. “It sort of slows down, but it surely’s nonetheless sort of productive in a method, as a result of you’ve gotten one thing which you can be impressed by,” Bey stated on an NPR Jazz Evening in America in 2019 when he was 80. “The music is at all times inspiring.”
Throughout the Civil Rights Motion, Bey’s bellowing baritone vocals took on an intensified gospel bluesy tone, fronting a fierce avant garde swing ensemble when he sang the title track on Max Roach’s “Members Don’t Git Weary” (Atlantic, 1968). That 12 months, after Bey performed on Roach’s album, saxophonist Gary Bartz tapped Bey for his new jazz fusion quartet, the NTU Troop. Its racial liberation statements drew out what Bey termed his “energy voice” that he asserted on the album “Harlem Bush Music – Taifa” (Milestone Information, 1970), and the following few albums that adopted by Bartz.
“He was my brother,” Gary Bartz stated in JazzTimes (2025). “He was an instrument to me, similar to one other horn. He and I have been the entrance line. He had good pitch. He had no drawback doing issues by ear.”
On the 1970 Blue Word album “That Healin’ Feelin’,” Bey started an intermittent 20-year affiliation with Horace Silver. Bey and Dee Dee Bridgewater have been the featured vocalists on Stanley Clarke’s album “Kids of Eternally” (Polydor Information, 1973).
His 1974 Atlantic information solo debut, “Expertise and Judgment,” obtained modest acclaim, however business success and recognition weren’t forthcoming till his 1996 album “Ballads, Blues & Bey,” (Proof Information), a dwell solo recording that put him on a street of recognition and prominence that was well-overdue. An unclaimed treasure had lastly been acknowledged. A phase on ”CBS Sunday Morning” adopted, in addition to a function in the New York Instances. At 57, Bey was lastly promoting information. He launched seven extra albums over the following 18 years, and have become a fixture on the worldwide jazz-club circuit.
Bey publicly revealed that he was homosexual, simply earlier than releasing “Ballads, Blues & Bey.” Though he had by no means hidden his sexuality, his choice to publicize it got here after studying he was H.I.V.-positive.
Andrew Wideman Bey, Jr. was born in Newark, N.J., on October 28, 1939. His father was a window-washer; he adopted the Bey as a surname as a follower of the Moorish Science Temple of America. His mom Victoria (Johnson) Wideman raised Andy and his eight siblings. On the early age of three, he took to the piano, and by age eight he was already being chaperoned by members of the family to Newark golf equipment.
He recorded a single, “Mama’s Little Boy Received the Blues” (Jubilee, 1953), that earned him an look on the Apollo Theatre, the place he sang together with his idol, R&B bandleader Louis Jordan. He then appeared on “Star Time Youngsters,” the NBC youngsters’s present that additionally featured Connie Francis and Joe Pesci.
Bey was principally self-taught as a vocalist, however his older sisters Salome and Geraldine have been robust influences. In 1961, they fashioned Andy & the Bey Sisters, mixing the soul of gospel and jazz. Collectively, they recorded three albums for the RCA Victor and Status labels: “Andy and the Bey Sisters,” “Now! Hear!,” and “Spherical Midnight.” Though they obtained accolades for his or her 16-month tour of Europe, the group disbanded in 1967.
Bey made one final public look, with bass and drums, on February 7, 2020, at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem. “He was simply getting the trio again collectively, after which Covid stopped the whole lot,” stated his drummer, Vito Lesczak. Bey’s well being was additionally declining, and in 2021, Darius de Haas organized to maneuver him into the Actors Fund Dwelling in Englewood, N.J.
Listening to Bey, chances are you’ll cry in your teacup, dance in his baritone of smoke, or simply sit in awe of his heat, soulful magic.
Bey is survived by his sister Geraldine (Bey) de Haas and lots of nieces and nephews.
A memorial celebration of Bey’s life and musical legacy is being deliberate.
