[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 106 (Thursday, September 9, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          A SALUTE TO ANDY BEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 9, 2004

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, as Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
and Chairman of the Jazz Forum and Concert, which occurs during our 
Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference, I rise today to salute the 
lifetime achievements of one of the most distinguished artists in 
American music history, Andy Bey. Earlier this year, Bey was named the 
Jazz Journalist Association's 2004 Male Vocalist of the year.
  The following biography, found on Bey's own web page, chronicles a 
career of accomplishment deserving of such high recognition, and of 
this body's thoughtful attention and respect:

       Born in 1939, the Newark, NJ native was a genuine child 
     prodigy as a pianist and singer, garnering appearances at the 
     famed Apollo Theater and on television's Spotlight On Harlem 
     and The Star Time Kids, sharing stages with the likes of 
     Louis Jordan, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, before he 
     turned 18. He then formed a vocal trio alongside his sisters 
     Salome and Geraldine and embarked for Europe; Andy & The Bey 
     Sisters were celebrated regulars at The Blue Note in Paris 
     and other venues in Europe from the late 1950s into the early 
     1960s, when they returned to the U.S. and continued to 
     perform and record (for RCA and Prestige) until the trio 
     disbanded in 1966.
       For the two decades thereafter, Bey recorded and performed 
     with such notables as McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Liston Smith, Thad 
     Jones/Mel Lewis, Eddie Harris and others. He was featured 
     vocalist on Gary Bartz's acclaimed Harlem Bush Music projects 
     and for an extended period with Horace Silver, including 
     Silver's The United States of Mind album sequence. In 1991, 
     Bey returned to Europe to teach vocal instruction in Austria; 
     he remained there until 1993, when he returned to the States 
     to record his ``comeback album,'' accompanied only by his own 
     piano, called Ballads, Blues & Bey.
       One of the great unsung heroes of jazz singing, Andy Bey is 
     a commanding interpreter of lyrics who has a wide vocal range 
     and a big, rich, full voice. Bey enjoys a following that 
     swears by him; nonetheless, he isn't nearly as well known as 
     he should be.
       The release of Ballads, Blues & Bey in 1996, and his 
     subsequent Shades of Bey, recorded with Bartz, Victor Lewis, 
     Peter Washington and other jazz notables and released in 
     1998, heralded Bey's ``renaissance'' in the business he's 
     been in for nearly five decades. Which leaves Bey somewhat 
     bemused: ``I never went away, actually. I don't know about 
     this renaissance. `` It's . . . well, it's new in a sense, 
     but it's not like I left the business.''
       Bey has continued to make his presence felt in the jazz 
     arena with the release of Tuesday's in Chinatown in 2001, and 
     his latest outing earlier this year on Savoy entitled 
     American Song.

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