FOR LOVE OF ABBEY LINCOLN
Abbey Lincoln is a great musician, vocalist, lyricist, composer, poet and painter. I speak of her in the present tense because the body of work she gives to this world will live forever.
Stylistically a direct descendant of Billie Holliday, Abbey’s work bears the same hallmark – an expressly distinctive tone coupled with an intense dedication to the delivery of songs that plummet to the depths of our emotional, social, and political psyche.
When I first arrived in NYC in the early 80’s, I met Abbey Lincoln through Steve Coleman. I was already a fan, particularly of the work she’d done with Thelonious Monk and Max Roach, but I grew to appreciate her musicianship more as a result of my association with her through Coleman and M-Base. Her choice to sing lyrics that express personal experiences of her own times makes her stand out in the crowd of standard “june, tune and moon” singers. She always bases her themes on the stories that she wants to tell, not on what the marketplace may feel more comfortable hearing. And like the best jazz musicians, her style is blessed with supple phrasing, impeccable timing, and an unmistakably singular sound.
There are singers and then there are musician/singers. I have always been drawn to the latter. Abbey Lincoln drew inspiration for the music she composed and the lyrics she penned from the deep well of African and American culture. She is and will always be one our world’s supreme culture-bearers.
~Cassandra Wilson