Although his profile is by no means commensurate with his talent, the 73 year-old continues to make music that assures his place in the pantheon of jazz vocalists. Firstly, that baritone, paradoxically full and light, with its floating quality, has acquired more finesse over time, and on low tempos it is exquisite, primarily because the control that Bey exerts over every single sustain or sotto phrase is faultless.

It is not always true to state that all singers from the improvising tradition model their work on the sound of horn players, yet there are times when Bey compellingly suggests the sound of a harmon mute deployed to full romantic effect. On the American songbook staples that speak of lost love and longing, he excels but five-star interpretation has never been the only string in Bey’s bow, and if there is one thing that defines him artistically it is his original writing. The songs he penned on his classic 1970 album Experience And Judgment linger in the mind and the new creations here such as ‘There Are So Many Ways To Approach The Blues’ and ‘The Demons Are After You’ look set to become staples among musicians looking for a melody and chord progressions that are pushing ‘out’ yet still keeping ‘in’. Above all they reflect an artist of real gravitas, one who can draw on extensive lived experience, worldliness and technical prowess to make a lyric such as ‘It’s an individual journey/It will never work for the masses’ anything but hollow. Bey, as is clear from his historic collaborations with Gary Bartz and Horace Silver, has always been effective with a full band, but this stripped down setting of just the singer and piano is a treat for those who crave a certain confessional intimacy in the art of song.