Along with Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln was one of the most expressive female jazz singers of the modern jazz era. Her style ranged from hard bop to free, as these classic albums from 1957-61 indicated.
Her 1957 debut has her backed by a studio orchestra, with arrangements by Benny Carter, Marty Paich and Jack Montrose, with a young Lincoln in fine form on “This Can’t Be Love” and “Love Walked In”. The same year, she hits her stride in a hard bopping session that included Sonny Rollns/ts, Paul Chambers/b, Wynton Kelly/p, Max Roach/dr and Kenny Dorham/tp and Lincoln makes standards like “Don’t Explain” and “I Must Have That Man” all her own. Next year, she keeps in good company with Kenny Dorham-Art Farmer/tp, Curtis Fuller/tb, Benny Golson/ts, Jerome Richardson-Sahib Sahib/wwinds, Philly Joe Jones/dr, Wynton Kelly/p and Paul Chambers-Sam Jones/b giving a delightful take of “Little Niles” and sensuously taking “I Am In Love”. In 1959 she recorded on of her best ever albums backed by Max Roach/dr, Wynton Kelly/p, Les Span/g-fl and Kenny Dorham/tp for a definitive take of “Afro Blue” and an earthy “Brother Where Are You”. 1961’s release is on a par of excellence, with Lincoln teamed with outsiders like Eric Dolphy/as-fl and Booker Little/tp as well as tenor icon Coleman Hawkins along with Mal Waldron/p and Max Roach/dr for a riveting “African Lady” and kaleidoscopic “Blue Monk” Lastly, she is found in in Paris performing at a concert with husband Roach as well as Clifford Jordan/ts, Coleridge T. Perkins/p and Eddie Kahn/dr for a rich “Sophisticated Lady” while stretching out with the band on “This Night Mountain”. Flexible forms.