It is with a heavy heart that I pass on the information that veteran jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln died Saturday in New York. She was 80.
Lincoln’s impact on jazz gets its due in the obituary that appeared in this morning’s New York Times.
Ms. Lincoln’s career encompassed outspoken civil rights advocacy in the 1960s and fearless introspection in more recent years, and for a time in the 1960s she acted in films, including one with Sidney Poitier.
Long recognized as one of jazz’s most arresting and uncompromising singers, Ms. Lincoln gained similar stature as a songwriter only over the last two decades. Her songs, rich in metaphor and philosophical reflection, provide the substance of “Abbey Sings Abbey,” an album released on Verve in 2007. As a body of work, the songs formed the basis of a three-concert retrospective presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002.
Her singing style was unique, a combined result of bold projection and expressive restraint. Because of her ability to inhabit the emotional dimensions of a song, she was often likened to Billie Holiday, her chief influence. But Ms. Lincoln had a deeper register and a darker tone, and her way with phrasing was more declarative.
For all that, I must note that I first encountered Lincoln in “For the Love of Ivy,” the 1968 Poitier film (which he co-wrote) mentioned above. Here’s the plot.
Seeking to improve herself, Ivy Moore (Lincoln), an African-American maid, announces her decision to leave her job working for the Austin family and go to secretarial school. The Austins are desperate to keep her and the teenagers, Gena and Tim, hatch a scheme to do so. Tim Austin sets up Ivy with Jack Parks (Poitier), a trucking company executive, to wine and dine Ivy Moore. Their initial meetings are awkward for the cosmopolitan Parks and the less sophisticated Moore. Eventually, however, romance blossoms, but when Moore learns that Parks was coerced into initially dating her, she breaks up with him. Parks overcomes his attachment to bachelorhood and asks Moore to marry him.
The entire movie is available on YouTube. Check out the beginning below.
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Comments
Sorry to hear the news regarding Abby Lincoln pasting. She was a great artist and will live on in her music.
Abby Lincoln was one of the best jazz stylist of all time. I loved her work, how she interpreted artists like Freddie Hubbard. She could take any song and make it a master. Will be missed. She gave jazz her all and we appreciated it and will go on loving it..
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