Skip Crumby Bey
1937 – 2004
Kasper “Skip” Sidney Crumby Bey (bassist) was born in Toledo, Ohio, on May 24, 1937. After his father died in February of 1948 and his mother died in November of that same year after an illness of five months, Skip and his siblings lived with his older brother before being sent to finish his schooling at Boys Town, Nebraska—a well-known home for boys outside Omaha. As a young man, he worked as a court stenographer in New York City before joining the U.S. Army in 1965 during the Vietnam War. Although Skip may have played piano as a child, he didn’t begin playing bass until later in life. At age 30, he bought a bass in a pawn shop and started playing the instrument.
Skip accompanied vocalist/pianist Nina Simone on a European tour before moving to Milwaukee in the early 1970s, where he made a big impression, influencing bassist Gerald Cannon and others. He frequently backed up musicians who came through the Jazz Gallery, such as Sonny Stitt and Barry Harris.
After living in Milwaukee for most of the decade, he left for New York City to work with pianist Lee Shaw. In 1980, he was living in Burlington, Vermont, but soon moved to Montreal, where he became a top bassist on the scene. He returned to live in Milwaukee for about six months in the mid-1990s and performed with many local musicians before returning to Montreal. A duo album with Canadian piano great Oliver Jones, entitled Then & Now, was released in 2002. Featuring five tracks recorded in 1986 and five recorded in 2001, it showcases Skip’s superlative walking lines and virtuosic solos. He died in Montreal on July 8, 2004, from cancer at age 67.
Listen to Skip play “Bogey Blues” with pianist Oliver Jones, recorded in Montreal on October 11, 1986:
