Here’s a snapshot of the famed vocalist Abbey Lincoln captured at the Keystone Korner back in 1980. She’s backed by the soulful and swinging team of Phil Wright/p, James Leary/dr and Doug Sides/dr for this gig, and above all else, Lincoln here shows that she knows how to deliver an evening of music.
Her timing on pieces such as “Painted Lady” and “People In Me” is impeccable, and when she teams up with Wright on “For All We Know” her veritas radiates like a stone that’s spent a day in the hot sun. She does nice work with the Latin “Somos Novios” as well as nodding to Motown with a gently bopping take of Stevie Wonder’s “Golden Lady.” She closes the set with an edgier read of “God Bless the Child” than most ears are used to, but she makes it work as Lincoln sounds more like she’s testifying a truth than reflecting an observation. There’s a lot here that fans of vocalists will notice is missing in today’s femme fatale’s, namely conviction over chops.
High Note Records