Criminally unsung pianist and singer Andy Bey had the most visible career
after he and his sisters Salome and Geraldine Bey broke up their performing
trio after an 11-year run in 1967, but this family singing ensemble was
far more than just the act that launched Andy, and he wasn't really the
focus of the group. All three siblings were highlighted equally in the
trio, and their harmonies together were the ethereal kind that can only
happen in a family where all involved have grown up hearing each other's
voices and phrasing every single day. The Bey trio recorded very little
together, unfortunately, just a single album for RCA in 1961 and two albums
for Prestige, Now! Hear!, released in 1964, and this one, 'Round Midnight,
from 1965. Part gospel, part muted R&B, part stylized blues, the Bey
trio was also very much a jazz outfit, due in no small part to Andy's
underappreciated piano playing and the presence of bop veterans like Milt
Hinton on bass, Osie Johnson on drums, and Kenny Burrell (who appears
on about half of the tracks here) on guitar. In essence, the Bey trio
sounded like a thinned-out and more jazzy, gauzy version of the Staple
Singers. Highlights from this reissue, which is quite short (only around
33 minutes) by modern CD standards, are a wonderfully balanced version
of Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So," a stirring take
on Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child," the ever expanding
and ascending "Feeling Good," and a fine rendition of the title
track, Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," which has never
been the easiest song in the world to sing effectively, but the trio nails
it here in what might have been deemed a definitive version if it had
actually been heard by more than a handful of people. Prestige released
Andy Bey & the Bey Sisters in 2000, which includes both the trio's
albums for the label on one disc, and that is definitely the way to go,
although this short set does do a decent job showing off the range and
talents of this unusual and intriguing group.
(by Steve Leggett, All
Music Guide)
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