For those unaware, Abbey Lincoln, born in Chicago in 1930, was a jazz vocalist and songwriter, who also became an actress and civil rights activist during the 1960s, and was married to renowned jazz drummer Max Roach.

Greatly influenced by Billie Holiday, her stock-in-trade was the delivery of heartfelt versions of classic standards, as well as seamlessly interpolating her vocals into extended jazz improvisations. Scott Yanow at allmusic.com calls her A dramatic performer whose interpretations were full of truth and insight - she always meant the lyrics she sang.

This 53-track collection features all the titles from albums at the start of her career, A Story of A Girl In Love on Liberty, That’s Him, It’s Magic and Abbey Is Blue on Riverside, Straight Ahead on Candid, and selected titles from the Max Roach albums Moon-faced And Starry-eyed, and Percussion Bitter Sweet.

It features recordings with some of the noted jazz musicians of the era, including The Benny Carter Orchestra, and in the small groups, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Max Roach, Benny Golson, Philly Joe Jones, Stanley Turrentine, Ray Bryant, Booker Little, Eric Dolphy and others.

She was a highly distinctive song stylist and this is an enlightening and enjoyable showcase for an artist who is sometimes referred to as the last of the great jazz singers.

Abbey grew up on a farm in the small township of Calvin Center, Michigan and she has earned a place among the “greats” of jazz. Married to Max Roach in 1961, she met Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane in New York with her circle including thinkers and activists such as James Baldwin, Paula Marshall, and Maya Angelou. In 1961 she recorded We Insist! Freedom Now Suite with Roach.

During this period she played the female lead in two major motion pictures, the civil rights-inspired Nothing But a Man with Ivan Dixon (1964) and the classic comedy For the Love of Ivy with Sidney Poitier, Beau Bridges, Carroll O’Connor, and Anne Meara (1968). She left New York City in 1970 but returned a decade later to form new bands.

Her early albums include Abby Lincoln’s Affair...A Story of a Girl in Love (Liberty), That’s Him and Abbey is Blue (Riverside), and Straight Ahead (Candid). Since 1989, Polygram France has recorded Abbey, marketing her records on the Verve label in the United States as well as in Europe. Her recordings include The World is Falling Down, You Gotta Pay the Band, Devil’s Got Your Tongue, When There is Love, A Turtle’s Dream, and Who Used to Dance, Wholly Earth, and Over the Years (the latter released October 2000).

The recipient of numerous civic and community awards for her work with the poor and disadvantaged, Abbey resisted the bleak side of life to emerge as a genuine carrier of celebration through music. One of Abbey’s last appearances for the Kennedy Center was with her quartet on March 30th, 2001 as part of the Louis Armstrong Legacy Series.

Sadly, she passed away on August 14th, 2010, at the age of 80 in Manhattan, New York, following a period of declining health after open-heart surgery in 2007.

Disc 1:
1. Love Walked In; 2. I Didn’t Know About You; 3. Would I Love You; 4. I Wake Up Smiling; 5. This Can’t Be Love; 6. Crazy He Calls Me; 7. Two Cigarettes In The Dark; 8. The Masquerade Is Over; 9. Take Me In Your Arms; 10. Together; 11. Affair; 12. No More; 13. Strong Man; 14. Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe; 15. My Man; 16. Tender As A Rose; 17. That’s Him; 18. I Must Have That Man; 19. Porgy; 20. When A Woman Loves A Man; 21. Don’t Explain

Disc 2:
1. Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man; 2. I Am In Love; 3. It’s Magic; 4. Just For Me; 5. An Occasional Man; 6. Ain’t Nobody’s Business; 7. Out Of The Past; 8. Music, Maestro, Please; 9. Love; 10. Exactly Like You; 11. Little Niles; 12. Afro-Blue; 13. Lonely House; 14. Let Up; 15. Thursday’s Child; 16. Brother, Where Are You?; 17. Laugh, Clown, Laugh; 18. Come Sunday; 19. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise; 20. Long As You’re Living

Disc 3:
1. Lost In The Stars; 2. I Concentrate On You; 3. Never Leave Me; 4. Straight Ahead; 5. When Malindy Sings; 6. In The Red; 7. Blue Monk; 8. Left Alone; 9. African Lady; 10. Retribution; 11. Garvey’s Ghost; 12. Mendacity

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