Personnel: Andy Bey (vocals, piano); Geri Allen (arranger, piano); Frank Wess (tenor saxophone, flute); Dwight Andrews (soprano saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto flute); Vernell Garnett (trumpet, flugelhorn); Steve Davis (trombone, bass trombone); Paul Meyers (guitar); Kiyoshi Kitagawa (bass); Mark McLean (drums); Mino Cinelu (percussion).

Recorded at Bennett Studio, Englewood, New Jersey on November 4-6 & 14-15, 2003. Includes liner notes by David Ritz.

Personnel: Andy Bey (vocals, piano); Frank Wess (tenor, flute); Paul Meyers (guitar); Dwight Andrews (flute, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone); Vernell Garnett (trumpet, flugelhorn); Steve Davis (trombone, bass trombone); Geri Allen (piano); Mino Cinelu (percussion).

Audio Mixer: Dave Kowalski.

Liner Note Author: David Ritz.

Recording information: Bennett Studio, Englewood, NJ (11/04/2003-11/15/2003).

Arrangers: Geri Allen; Herb Jordan; Andy Bey.

In a field traditionally dominated by women, jazz vocalist Andy Bey has made a name for himself as a unique song interpreter as well as a skilled pianist, his deep, resonant voice the polar opposite of the usual feminine take on the jazz legacy. While Bey's source materials have ranged far and wide over the course of his long career, AMERICAN SONG finds him sticking strictly to the tried-and-true Great American Songbook. Amazingly, Bey finds something new in old war-horses like "Lush Life," "Satin Doll," and "Speak Low."

Artfully idiosyncratic production by Herb Jordan and angular, modernistic horn arrangements from co-pianist Geri Allen don't hurt, but it is Bey's luxurious voice that truly carries things. The combination of emotional immediacy and hushed intimacy he brings to the opener, "Never Let Me Go," is a textbook example of how a great singer can inhabit a song and reveal its hidden aspects from within. Neither as conventional as Kevin Mahogany nor as envelope-pushing as Kurt Elling, Bey is very much his own man, constantly in the process of creating his own unique paradigm amid the highly flexible borders and boundaries of modern jazz.