Here’s my Christmas addition to my best jazz and roots album of 2014 list. This was published Dec. 25 in the Shepherd Express and was my choice for the No. 3 best jazz album of the year.
Hearing Andy Bey is a bit like stumbling upon a man alone with his heavy heart, or perhaps praying softly. The sense of intimacy—the stark piano and exquisitely naked voice—might feel too close for some, but it’s their loss. The singer follows his Grammy-nominated albumThe World According to Andy Bey with a recording conceived as a musical diary of four pages, three to four songs per page.
He sounds like he was born to sing a song like “My Foolish Heart” or a lyric like “I could cry salty tears.” His poor heart may get him in trouble and he may shed tears. But, in the moment, he has strength enough to turn pain or complex emotion inside out, so it’s beautiful and moving for you, rather than merely private. His roomy baritone of many octaves often massages a lyric with a tender graininess and sometimes hoists it into an aching yowl. Yet he does so intelligently, with the wisdom of lived life.
And his piano self-accompaniment conveys a pungent presence, with piquant chords and ambling phrases that are scenes unto themselves. His self-possession and courage as his own confessor and accompanist suggest how he makes his own way in this world, according to Bey.
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CD cover image courtesy of all music.com
Andy Bey performance image courtesy of aldezabal.blogspot.com
