Abbey Lincoln, the gifted jazz vocalist and songwriter died Saturday in New York. She was 80

[WASHINGTON DC JAZZ NETWORK]

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 15, 2010

Abbey Lincoln, a jazz singer and actress of unshakable integrity who transformed her image from that of a slinky chanteuse to an oracle of hard-won wisdom, died Aug. 14 in New York. She had been in precarious health since having open-heart surgery in 2007, but the precise cause of death could not be learned. She was 80.

Ms. Lincoln found early fame as a sex-kitten supper-club singer and made a cameo appearance in the campy 1956 teen film "The Girl Can't Help It," starring Jayne Mansfield.

After meeting and later marrying jazz drummer Max Roach, she became one of the first entertainers to make civil rights and racial pride an overt cause. She was a noted film actress in the 1960s, then retreated to obscurity before staging a remarkable comeback in the 1990s as a singer, songwriter and spiritual elder.

Max Roach’s Freedom Suite Now!” With lyrics by Oscar Brown and accompanied by Roach, Coleman Hawkins and others, Lincoln sang of the oppression faced by generations of African-Americans and the ongoing battle for freedom and opportunity, her performance ranging from moaning as if in anguish to soaring vocal flights. It was far from standard fare for jazz performers. In ’61, she released “Straight Ahead” in which she fronted a combo that featured Roach, Hawkins, EricDolphy and Mal Waldron. For the recording, she wrote lyrics to Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk.”

“For Love of Ivy,” in which she played a maid who sought professional advancement. She additionally appeared in many TV shows in the ‘70s.

After her eight-year marriage to Roach ended, Ms. Lincoln spent the 1970s caring for her mother in Los Angeles. She taught acting, traveled in Africa and concentrated on writing songs. In the early 1980s, she settled in New York and returned to performing, with a distinctly fresh approach.

"I don't scream anymore," she said. "I sing about my life."

She drew inspiration from one of her idols, Billie Holiday, paring her singing to an unembellished minimum. Unlike many jazz singers, Ms. Lincoln indulged in little improvisation or scatting, the singing of wordless syllables in rapid sequence. "I learned from Billie," she told The Washington Post in 2006. "It isn't about showing how good your voice is. It's about saying something."

Lacking the elastic vocal range of her early years, Ms. Lincoln found a new emotional depth in such later recordings as "The World Is Falling Down" (1990), "Devil's Got Your Tongue" (1993), "A Turtle's Dream" (1995)

and "Who Used to Dance" (1996)

Her 1991 album, "You Gotta Pay the Band," featured original songs as well as a haunting rendition of the 1930s standard "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" The recording gained much of its lyrical poignancy from some the final performances of saxophonist Stan Getz, who died of cancer soon after.

"Stan helped save my career," Ms. Lincoln said in 1999. "Whenever a great musician works with you, it's an endorsement."

Ms. Lincoln performed at the Kennedy Center during the 2006 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival and released her final album, "Abbey Sings Abbey," in 2007.

"She was always moving ahead," Hentoff said. "She had a presence. She was always so individual."

She was born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago on Aug. 6, 1930, and grew up in rural Michigan as the tenth of 12 children. Drawn to music at an early age, she moved to Los Angeles at 19 and modeled her early career after Lena Horne.

From 1952 to 1954, she performed in Honolulu under the stage name Anna Marie, then returned to Los Angeles, where she adopted the name Gaby Lee. In 1956, she came up with Abbey Lincoln -- a combination of Westminster Abbey and Abraham Lincoln.

After meeting Roach in 1957, Ms. Lincoln became friends with other jazz musicians, including Thelonious Monk, who encouraged her in her first efforts as a songwriter.

Ms. Lincoln spent more than a month in a psychiatric hospital after her divorce from Roach in 1970 and never remarried. Survivors include two brothers and a sister.

In 1990, Ms. Lincoln returned to acting with a small role in Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues" but had mixed feelings about the film and about black artists who held African American life up to ridicule.

She was particularly critical of Michael Jackson and his physical transformation:

"He's brilliant; he can sing and dance in the tradition of his African ancestors, but he curses them by erasing them from his face and hair."

In her later years, through her majestic performances and her uncompromising integrity, Ms. Lincoln came to be seen as something of the guiding conscience of jazz.

"Sing a song correctly," she said, "and you live forever."

There will be no formal funeral, instead a celebration of Life & Memorial will be planned in approximately one month's time so all can have a chance to gather and celebrate the Life of this beloved pioneer of the Music. Details and dates to be announced. The family has suggested that donations can be made in her honor to the Jazz Foundation of America. "Saving jazz and blues ... one musician at a time"

http://www.jazzfoundation.org

I know why the cage bird sings...

I'm free at last, free at last...

[Julian Hipkins]

RIP Abbey...Thanks for your music and great lyrics!