Tuesdays In Chinatown

Andy Bey's hypnotic vocals have enriched the music of Horace Silver, Stanley Clarke, and McCoy Tyner, and made him one the premiere jazz stylists today. On this CD, the Newark-born pianist-vocalist is supported by a quicksilver rhythm section featuring bassist Ron Carter, drummer Victor Lewis, and percussionist Mino Cinelu. Augmented by strings and horns, the deep-voiced Bey drapes his songs in a sophisticated azure aura that is simultaneously ethereal and earthy. Bey's stylistic range is broad, stretching from the slinky, slow-tempoed title track written by Herb Jordan to the down-home number, "Feelin' Lowdown," by blues legend Big Bill Broonzy. Bey's love of Brazilian music is evident on his impassioned takes of Milton Nascimento's "Saidas e Bandeiras" and "Bridges." But Bey's best examples of musical alchemy are his syncopated version of Sting's "Fragile," his "Bird with strings" reading of "Just Friends," and his hornlike vocalese on the impressionistic "In a Mist" by Bix Beiderbecke. Andy Bey proves that there's a fine line between music making and magic. --Eugene Holley Jr.