Latest news with #Ballads
Boston Globe
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Andy Bey, jazz singer renowned for his vocal range, dies at 85
The sheer reach of his voice, and his expert control over it, could astound audiences. Not only could he climb from a deep baritone to a crisp tenor, but he could also do it while jumping ahead of the beat or slowing to a crawl behind it, giving even well-worn songs his personal stamp. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up At a typical show, he might start out singing and playing piano, alongside a bassist and drummer, then, over the course of the set, sometimes sing without piano and sometimes play the piano alone. Advertisement Even long into his 70s, Mr. Bey had a commanding, compelling voice, projecting from his baby face beneath his signature porkpie hat. He was a rarity, a Black man singing jazz, a field in which women had long dominated alongside white singers including Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. 'A lot of men don't want to sing ballads because it exposes your vulnerability,' he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2001. 'It seems like male singers are not supposed to show that side a female singer can show. But as a singer you have to be willing to take it. For me it's like a cleanser.' Advertisement Mr. Bey went far beyond jazz, incorporating in blues, R&B, and soul into his approach, whether performing standards or his own compositions. Later in his career, he became known for his rendition of 'River Man' (1969) by British folk-rock singer-songwriter Nick Drake. He liked to say that he had four careers, one after the other. First, as a solo child performer, then as one-third of Andy and the Bey Sisters, with his sisters Geraldine and Salome. After that, he played with a string of jazz artists before breaking out on his own with 'Experience and Judgment' (1973), which melded soul and jazz and seemed to herald the arrival of a major new talent. Then he largely fell out of the spotlight. He worked with jazz artists Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, and Gary Bartz, but he also spent long stints in Europe. It was not until 1996 that he released his next solo album in the United States, 'Ballads, Blues & Bey.' By then, the industry had largely forgotten him -- he said that 25 record companies turned him down before Evidence, a small jazz label, said yes. (In 1991, he recorded an album called 'As Time Goes By' on Jazzette, a Yugoslavian label.) 'Ballads' was a success and led to a career renaissance. Mr. Bey had lost none of his vocal range; if anything, his voice had taken on a smooth patina. He released seven more albums over the next 18 years, received two Grammy nominations and became a fixture on the global jazz-club circuit. Advertisement 'The attention doesn't surprise me, because I believe I deserve it,' he told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1999. 'But I didn't realize I'd get this much attention. I've been an underground figure, or a cult figure, all these years. An acquired taste, as some writers have called me.' Andrew Wideman Bey Jr. was born Oct. 28, 1939, in Newark. His father, a window washer born Andrew Wideman, was an adherent of the Moorish Science Temple of America, an offshoot of Islam, and followed its practice of adopting Bey as a surname. His son kept the surname but did not share his father's faith. His mother, Victoria (Johnson) Wideman, raised Andy and his eight older siblings. He leaves his sister Geraldine (Bey) de Haas. At 3, Andy Bey was already teaching himself to play boogie-woogie piano, and at 8 he was singing at shows alongside saxophonist Hank Mobley. His singing in venues around Newark caught the attention of record labels, and he released his first solo album, 'Mama's Little Boy's Got the Blues,' in 1952, when he was 13. He was no doubt gifted with preternatural talent, but he was also surrounded by a musical family and a close-knit community in Newark that produced jazz stars such as singer Sarah Vaughan and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Mr. Bey credited his high vocal range to his decade-long run alongside his sisters, though he also closely modeled his style on Vaughan and Nat King Cole. 'I would never be tired of the comparisons,' he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2001. 'Nat King Cole was one of my idols and a major, major influence. He's still the one for me.' Advertisement Just before releasing 'Ballads, Blues & Bey,' Mr. Bey revealed publicly that he was gay. He had never hidden his sexuality, but he decided to publicize it after he found out he was HIV positive. In a way, his sexuality only added to his uniqueness as a Black male singer and an older one at that. His age, he said, made his performances more persuasive. 'You have to kind of put yourself out there if you're going to make somebody believe something,' he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2005. 'It's trying to focus on what the song is saying and hopefully that it communicates something through sound, melody, rhythm -- through all those components that help to make great music.' This article originally appeared in
Los Angeles Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A high-fashion Filipino lookbook that feels like 'coming home'
Bay Area rap and the occasional Tagalog ballad blasted through the speakers at Projkt L.A. in Monterey Park as Stephanie Ramos, Miles Canares, P-Lo and Micah Mahinay — who goes by the DJ name Noodles — celebrated Filipino creatives and brands with a high-fashion lookbook, shot on film by Brandon Kaipo Moningka. Ramos, Canares, P-Lo and Noodles are among the co-founders of the Baryo HiFi festival, which is now in its second year and taking place this Saturday, May 3. For the event, Filipino American artists, performers and vendors take over a block of Beverly Boulevard, a joyous showcase that Ramos describes as a reclamation of Historic Filipinotown. 'As Filipinos, we're often the ones working behind the scenes, whether that's in the entertainment industry, fashion, healthcare, hospitality,' Ramos says. 'We're the backbone of so many industries, but we're rarely in the spotlight. Our goal was really to shine a light and create a platform for us to celebrate, be seen and do that on our own terms.' With clothing and bling from Filipino-owned brands Art Community, Ballads, Maaari, De La Gold, FAMILY by Coen Clemente, Mojave, Gara Sun and stylist Christine Garcia wanted to focus on 'Filipino hospitality and heartwarming generosity.' Taking inspiration from her own family photos, Garcia instinctively paired oversized denim on denim, stacked jade bangles on gold bracelets and styled a FAMILY tee that reads, 'There is beauty in our Moreno skin.' 'It felt like coming home to family,' Garcia says of the styling process. These same brands will have booths at Baryo, as part of two marketplaces featuring Filipino designers — one curated by Sari-Sari Studio and Mayumi Market, and the other by Buttery Pat and Tried & True Co. Attendees can shop Vintage streetwear and mahjong-inspired earrings from BRWNGRLZ. The festival will feature 'Working Overtime,' an exhibit curated by Kristofferson San Pablo, showcasing 19 interdisciplinary artists meditating on basketball as a lens for themes of hustle, resilience and community. Baryo will likewise have beloved L.A. food vendors such as Dollar Hits and Lasita, along with live performances from icons like 1970s disco band VST & Co. 'This event really is from the heart. Everyone's volunteering their time,' Canares says. 'We want you to bring your family, your kids, your parents, your grandparents, enjoy great music, have amazing food and shop from a lot of these small businesses that are popping up.' Last year, the Baryo team pulled off the event in just three weeks, coming together like what they've jokingly called the 'Filipino Avengers.' ' Some of us are born and raised in L.A. and some of us have moved here and found our footing here, but we all found community,' Ramos says. 'We've accomplished our goal in the first year to bring awareness about Historic Filipinotown. The next step is to really build on that and leave a lasting legacy in the neighborhood.' For the founders, Baryo is more than just a public celebration of style, food and culture — it's a way to connect, to bridge generations through Filipino pride. 'Out of all the things that I've done, this is the one that my family has finally recognized,' Canares says. By taking up space, they're helping the next generation of Filipino creatives to imagine doing the same. 'We're not those kind of people that like the spotlight at all,' Ramos says, 'but we know how important it is and how much it does inspire other young Filipino Americans that may not have grown up to see people that look like us, that are in these industries.'
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Climate Change Devastated Their Appalachian Town. These Singers Are Trying to Save Its Music
It's rare that a musician hands over a business card after a gig, but that's exactly what happened last month at Folk Alliance International, an annual gathering of Americana-related musicians and music industry folks, held this year in Montreal. If one night you wandered into one of the hundreds of private showcases in hotel rooms, you may have heard two women and one man singing mountain ballads from hundreds of years ago, including 'The Soldier Traveling from the North' and 'I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again.' After their half-hour set, one of the members, Donna Ray Norton, chilled out in a hallway and offered a card the color of a freshly cut lawn that read: 'Save the Ballads.' On the flip side: 'Appalachian Ballads: Love & Murder a Cappella.' More from Rolling Stone They Saved 54 Horses From the L.A. Fires - But Lost Their Farm Price Gouging in the L.A. Housing Market Is Now Rampant. Can We Stop It? What Blue States Can Do If Trump and Republicans Withhold Disaster Aid Like her two bandmates, Norton is based in North Carolina, in between Asheville and Marshall. The latter town, population 800, was slammed hard last year by Hurricane Helene, leaving behind a trail of deep mud and washed-out buildings. 'It's hard to put into words,' says Norton, a gregarious blond sporting a nose ring. 'We knew a storm was coming, but it was not made to sound like it was going to be a big catastrophic event. Every time something comes in, the mountain breaks it up and it dissipates. But this one didn't dissipate and ravaged everything in her path. Fields of trees turned over. Cars on top of tall trees. It's changed the entire landscape. It's like a moonscape now.' Among the vital parts of Marshall that were devastated were the bars and venues where live music once took place five nights a week, including the bar and restaurant area of the Old Marshall Jail Hotel, a former jail until 2012. Once a month for the last few years, Norton and as many as a dozen more local singers, including the scene's matriarch, Sheila Kay Adams, and her daughter Melanie Rice, would gather there for a 'ballad swap.' They'd sing some of the hundreds and hundreds of four-centuries-old traditional ballads they all grew up with in the area. A few of them, like 'Matty Groves' (or 'Little Mathey Groves'), may be familiar to rock fans thanks to versions by Fairport Convention. The Old Marshall Jail Hotel is currently being rebuilt. But in the meantime, Norton and the other members of the ad-hoc group, who call themselves Nest of Singing Birds, are hoping to spread the word about their work and the effects of climate change on a music community — and they're doing it by taking their tradition-steeped act on the road, including a stop in Montreal. 'Our goal is to talk about the hurricane and continue to share these songs and stories, so we had this idea to travel the ballad swap,' Norton says. 'When something like this happens, in a place with all these traditions like North Carolina, there's a risk of losing something so sacred and special, and it's really scary. There's not a ton of ballad singers in the world.' Like her bandmates, Norton has been singing these songs since they were kids, learning them from parents, grandparents, and other family members. They're so old-school that until recently, Norton had never sung with musical instrument accompaniment, only a cappella. 'We were sort of isolated, and lot of the time it would be the women who would keep the songs going because they'd be working in the fields or cooking supper or working in the garden, and you can't play an instrument when you're doing that,' she says. 'But you can sing a song and entertain people around you by singing about lords and ladies and witches. We were providing our own entertainment.' The fact that Nest of Singing Birds (a phrase coined by British folk-song collector Cecil Sharp when he visited the area over 100 years ago) have fewer places to sing, thanks to Helene, is just one of several pressing issues. When Norton was growing up, the tradition was passed along by family, which is no longer a given. 'A long time ago, your family would have five or ten kids,' Norton says. 'Now, I have only three and my cousin only has one. It's a lineage that's slowly starting to whittle down and not as many families are carrying those traditions.' Along with shows in Nashville, Knoxville, and Raleigh, North Carolina, Nest of Singing Birds are also planning to release an album: Marshall Sessions, recorded right before Hurricane Helene and intended to help get out the word about their music. 'I was down in Marshall digging out the mud after the hurricane, shoveling mud,' Norton says. 'It was really heavy and slippery. I just turned 43, so I'm not as young as I was, and a friend of mine said, 'What the best use of your skill set? Let's do the thing we do best with our songs and stories.' That really resonated with me.' Whether this effort will add up to an O Brother, Where Art Thou? moment — when mainstream culture catches up and becomes enchanted with mysterious mountain songs of the past — has yet to be seen. But Norton takes heart in some of the younger people who started dropping by the Old Marshall before Helene. Since children weren't in the audience, they were able to pull out some of their more risqué material, like that one often MIA verse in 'The Soldier Traveling from the North' ('Well she pulled off her blue silk gown/She laid it on the table/It's he pulled off his uniform suit/And he hopped in bed with the lady'). Norton also has plans to record an album of trad songs with Tyler Ramsey, the North Carolina singer-songwriter and former member of Band of Horses. While the group will always stick with the folk songs from their area, they aren't averse to mixing it up every now and then. 'I'm about to blow your mind,' Norton says with a laugh. She didn't only listen to folk music; a child of the Eighties and Nineties, she says she also loved Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey and classic hip-hop from Snoop Dogg, the Notorious B.I.G., and Run-DMC. Asked to consider a modern cover for a recent project, she selected the Beastie Boys' 'Paul Revere.' 'We wanted to pick something out of left field,' she says. 'We didn't want a Sheryl Crow or country song. And that one works really well. It's the timing and how it rhymes.' That moment of frivolity aside, everyone involved in Nest of Singing Birds knows how fragile their music eco-system is now. The North Carolina Music Council has made Nest of Singing Birds the official ambassadors for the state's newly established North Carolina Music Office. Asked if she thought climate change would impact the state's musical history, Catherine Swain, of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, says, 'No, I didn't. But then L.A. happened and it made me think we need to be more vigilant about preserving our cultural heritage. We just can't take things for granted.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
