Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Bob Dylan’s 2015 album Shadows In The Night (Columbia) contains songs that were previously recorded by Frank Sinatra.
(Photo: )As a young man, Bob Dylan started composing idiosyncratic material because he couldn’t find traditional folk songs that conveyed what he wanted to express. Now, as an old man, he has turned to the Great American Songbook to communicate his feelings, interpreting tunes such as “Autumn Leaves,” “Where Are You?” and Irving Berlin’s masterpiece “What’ll I Do.” One might associate such compositions with a certain degree of theatricality—as opposed to the ostensibly autobiographical, “authentic” songcraft that rockers claim as currency.
Rather than hide behind layers of sonic trickery, Dylan, 73, leaves himself exposed on Shadows In The Night. When a singer sails into senior citizen status, it’s common for a producer to augment his fading instrument with the bulwark of lush orchestration, backing vocalists or sprightly duet partners. Dylan eschews all that. Teamed with his road band, he recorded relatively spare versions of 10 songs—all of which had been previously cut by Frank Sinatra—and then produced the album himself (under the pseudonym Jack Frost).
Whereas Sinatra majestically belted out the prayer “Stay With Me” bolstered by soaring strings, Dylan pairs his gritty vocals with Tony Garnier’s poignant arco work and Donny Herron’s masterfully hypnotic pedal steel guitar.
No one’s ever going to confuse Dylan with Pavarotti, but he’s in fine voice here—at least compared to the growling, guttural delivery on his 2012 album Tempest. The frayed quality of his vocals reinforces the vulnerability and loneliness that his despairing narrators experience.
On “Why Try To Change Me Now,” Herron crafts a dreamy, drifting melodic line as Dylan convincingly portrays a bewildered, weary character who knows that he’ll always be out of step with society’s conventions. Bravo.
(Note: To read a story about recording engineer Al Schmitt—who worked on Shadows In The Night—and his role as a mentor at the 2016 Grammy Camp Jazz Session, click here.)
—Bobby Reed
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”
May 20, 2025 11:58 AM
Branford Marsalis was on the road again. Coffee cup in hand, the saxophonist — sporting a gray hoodie and a look of…
“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.
May 13, 2025 12:39 PM
Part of the jazz vibraphone conversation since her late teens, Sasha Berliner has long come across as a fully formed…
Roscoe Mitchell will receive a Lifetime Achievement award at this year’s Vision Festival.
May 27, 2025 6:21 PM
Arts for Art has announced the full lineup for the 2025 Vision Festival, which will run June 2–7 at Roulette…