Abbey Lincoln

~ABBEY LINCOLN ~

Abbey Lincoln is without a doubt a singer's singer, a woman with extraordinary:talents -- an artist who cuts through society's fragmented ruptured illusions and human waste in order to establish a new light a new sense of hope a symphony of new and positive ideas.

Abbey is a woman of and about her "time" and yet, when vou listen to her sing, one suddenly gets a poignant view of tomorrow. This gift -- this ability, of course, makes her more than a singer. She suddenly becomes a seeress with astonishing powers to paint canvases of the future.

Who is this mystical woman? A compilation of who Abbey Lincoln really is, would fill volumes but we can give it a peripheral try. Abbev Lincoln is a legendary singer in her own time - she is a lyricist, composer and actress.

She is an artist of great intelligence. Abbey is known for social commentary and excellence in performance, and exemplifies the musical art form in America called Jazz. Her many recordings are classic and collectable. Her story is a dramatic mixture of innocence, love and yes, disappointments -- her goal is the continual search for truth and to satisfy her desire to be free.

Bom Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago, Abbey who is tenth of twelve children, grew up on a farm in Michigan. This small township called Calvin Center has the distinction of being one of the stops on the underground railroad during slavery. And this was the area where Abbey was educated in a one-room schoolhouse that she believes gave her a head start for learnng.

Even as a small girl, Abbey showed great promise as a stage performer. Music had a compelling effect on her - it filled nearly every waking hour - music was suddenly the blueprint in her heart and mind.

She recalls listening to Billie Holiday and Coleman Hawkins on a hand cranked Victrola, for the first time. This inspired her to give performances at home, as well as in school, and of course in church. Abbey's first professional job took place in a cabaret setting, the basement of a church; she was paid five dollars for this appearance.

She is also scholarly and sometimes lectures and enjoyed teaching theatre for a vear at the California State University at Northridge.

Not only has Abbey received world acclaim for her music; during the late sixties she was featured in two major motion pictures,. (Nothing But a Man & For the Love of Ivy) as the female lead and is known as a sensitive and accomplished actress.

Abbev is a story teller -.a music messenger propelling her truth in song with artistry, grace and skill. Because of her deep concern for the downtrodden and the oppressed, she has been awarded numerous civic and community awards.

It could be stated that Abbey Lincoln is the personification of the humanity about which she writes and sings. Abbev has resisted the bleak side of life to emerge as a genuine carrier of celebration through music.

Abbey savs it best in explaining herself and music, "She's a spirit. I dug a tunnel to make it easy for her to come through. She's always there and I love her more than anything else in the world. I live through music and it lives through me."

I sometimes see myself as a space traveler who makes reports," Abbey Lincoln says with a husky laugh. She is making reference to the opening image of The River the final song on her latest Verve release, WHO USED TO DANCE. But she could also be alluding to her role as a commentator on the general state of human affairs on earth. At 66, Lincoln has few peers as a jazz vocalist with eloquent interpretive powers. Her 45-year career has come into full, flower with the six albums has recorded for Verve since 1989. And on those recordings THE WORLD IS FALLING DOWN, YOU GOTTA PAY THE BAND, DEVILS GOT YOUR TONGUE, WHEN THERE IS LOVE, and 1995's widely acclaimed A TURTLE'S DREAM she has increasingly emerged as an engaging and profound songwriter as well, addressing matters of the heart and the spirit with emotional commitment and musical grace.

"I'm really thankful for a chance to express myself and record the songs I hear," Lincoln says. "I didn't know I was going to become a composer. I alwayswrote words, but I didn't know that I would hear a melody. It makes me a lot more independent and sufficient to myself."

In Los Angeles in 1954, She allowed the producers at the famous Moulin Rouge to change her name to Gaby Woolridge. Her first mentor Bob Russell, lyricist-extraordinaire, named her Abbey Lincoln and produced her first recording with Benny Carter and Marty Paitch on Liberty Records. Russell was also instrumental in securing Lincoln a featured performance in the still famous Jayne Mansfield movie, THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT.

in 1957, she began a musical collaboration with Max Roach who brought her to Riverside Records. it was at Riverside where she recorded THAT'S HIM, ABBEY IS BLUE and IT'S MAGIC. In 1961, she was featured on the famous Max Roach recording, FREEDOM NOW SUITE.

In 1965, she made her debut as a dramatic actress and leading ladv, in the social film NOTHING BUT A MAN. Three years later she played the title role with Sidney Poitier in FOR LOVE OF IVY.

In 1989, Jean-Philippe Allard lnvited her to record for PolyGram France. Lincoln inaugurated the realtionship with Verve that has resulted in what most observers agree is this finest work of her career. "I never had to scrounge for my career. Somebody always came to help me. And now it's a blessing to grow as an artist in your mature years. Music is mostly about character. It has something to do with having integrity, believing in something and saving it, whatever instrument you use."

Julien Lourau, playing off the evocative bass pattern plied by Michael Bowie, helps evoke the spirit of John Coltrane on what might strike many as a surprising cover version - Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man. "I saw the music on a piano when I was staying with some friends in San Francisco maybe 20 years ago," Lincoln explains,. "I'd never heard anybody sing it, but when I read the lyrics I knew this was everything I wanted to say. His metaphors -'the haunted frightened trees'- are wonderful! I guess it was just time for me to do it."

Indeed, WHO USED TO DANCE can be seen as a document of the competing forces of despair and hope, of loneliness and love. "When we put Love Has Gone Away as the first song on the album, It made everything fall into place, Lincoln says. 'I think that's What the album is about - love has gone away and that's the reason things are in shambles. When you lose love you lose everything. But I walked away with love, I'm hanging somewhere where there is love."

Lincoln is serious about her responsibility as a chronicler of the human capacity to the love and the Impulse to endure. "You need music for your spirit, It's not a luxury, it's necessity," she elaborates. '"You have to have something to listen to that will lift your spirit. I think this is what this music does - it makes you See yourself in another light, as a thinking, brilliant human being who can take something and turn it around. it testifies to our excellence. I think that's why It's becoming more and more popular. But you can't commercialize it anymore than you can Mr. Bach and Mr. Beethoven."

"I don't think we can come to this music to be rich and for everybody to know our names. I think it's a holy experience with your spirit. It will visit you if it finds you worthy, but can't just reach and grab it. If you are in the right place and your spirit is conducive to this, the muse will come and hang with you. Sometimes it takes you all your life."

WHO USED TO DANCE is convincing evidence that at this point in her life, Abbey. Lincoln has become one with the muse, and will continue to create great art - heartfelt reports on the human condition - for years to come.

Ms. Lincoln performs Saturday July 18.

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