© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Andy Bey: A Risk-Taking Virtuoso

Andy Bey's new album is called <em>Ain't Necessarily So</em>
Robert Atanasovski
/
AFP/Getty Images
Andy Bey's new album is called Ain't Necessarily So

Andy Bey was a child piano prodigy and teenage pop singer before he began touring in the vocal trio Andy and the Bey Sisters. Later, in the 1970s, he recorded with Horace Silver, Stanley Clarke and others. But Bey's career really took off when he was rediscovered in the '90s. The new Andy Bey live album isn't exactly new.

On Ain't Necessarily So, a belatedly issued live date from 1997, early in his ongoing revival, he brings out the gospel in the standard from Porgy and Bess. Bey has extraordinary range as a singer. He can play the romantic baritone like Billy Eckstine, but he'll also swoop over and under a baritone's normal range, from a strong falsetto to a sub-basement—and he may fade from a holler to a whisper as he does it. He doesn't mind showing off what he can do, but doesn't lapse into mere showboating.

Andy Bey has a great feeling for Duke Ellington's music—he can jab the piano like Ellington, and has recorded a few of his tunes. Duke's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" gets knockout treatment here. Ellington loved eccentric soloists but didn't always hire the best singers. So it's tempting to imagine what he might have done with this virtuoso.

Andy Bey's made some very good records since his comeback, but this superior one gets an extra boost from the bass and drum team of Peter Washington and no-relation Kenny Washington. They lock in with Bey the pianist, and make him more of a rhythm singer—like on the upbeat version of depression-era tearjerker "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime."

Bey's taste for pushing the limits goes back to the family act he had with his elder siblings Salome and Geraldine 45 years ago. Bey fans may have missed, but shouldn't have, a recent reissue of 1966's 'Round Midnight by Andy and the Bey Sisters. There's more Ellington, more risk-taking, and plenty of evidence Andy Bey was already special way back when—even if he had to wait another 30 years for a big payday.

Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

Kevin Whitehead is the jazz critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Currently he reviews for The Audio Beat and Point of Departure.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.