Andy Bey

Despite a career that has flickered in and out of the spotlight, jazz vocalist and pianist Andrew Bey is one of the great vocal stylists of the 21st century; when he woos with standards of balladry from the American songbook such as "There Will Never Be Another You," the only analogous knee-weakener might be Johnny Hartman. A child prodigy at the piano, Bey performed at an amateur night at the Apollo while still a teen. An appearance on a '50s televised talent show, Star Time, followed, as did work opposite Connie Francis and Louis Jordan's band. In 1956 Bey formed a trio with his sisters Salome and Geraldine, and captured an international audience for three impeccable group vocal jazz records. After the group disbanded in 1967, Bey worked with Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner and Gary Bartz and issued his first solo record, Experience and Judgment, in 1970. After a break from recording for a number of years, he issued a handful more releases starting in 2000, including 2001's Tuesdays in Chinatown, 2004's American Song and 2007's Ain't Necessarily So.