After a long absence from recording Andy Bey returned to the studio for his HighNote debut in 2013 and the result, "The World According to Andy Bey" won a prestigious Academie Charles Cros Coups de Coeur Jazz Award and was a Grammy finalist. Insiders and the cognoscenti have always known about Andy Bey. Given his limited output of studio recordings, live performances were the source of Bey's reputation as a singer. Aretha Franklin has recalled the nights when Andy worked the Village in New York: "Soon as I finished my gig I'd run over to hear him. Andy never got the recognition he deserved . . . he's a jazz original . . . brilliant and precious."

Decades may have intervened between then and now but the vivid performances, such as those contained in "Pages From an Imaginary Life" haven't dimmed. Perhaps Andy's most precious gift as a vocalist is not his enormous range and breath control or his austere but communicative piano playing but rather it is that he creates an atmosphere. He transports us to a Lotus-Eater Land where we are asked to meet Bey's renditions on their own terms as they seemingly erase from memory all previous versions.

ANDY BEY, piano & vocals

TRACKS: My Foolish Heart • How Long Has This Been Going On? • Jealousy • I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues • Love For Sale • Worried Life Blues • Bad Luck May Be Good Luck • Lover Come Back to Me • Good Morning Heartache • Dog Eat Dog • Humor Keeps Us Alive • Take the "A" Train • Everything I Have Is Yours • All That Glitter's Not Gold • All Roads Lead Back to You

 I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues

 Love for Sale

 Good Morning Heartache

 Take the "A" Train