Description
This performance of the late jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln was filmed at New York’s Promenade Theater in 1991. The film here is an hour long in the round concert and rare glimpse of the enigmatic, introspective artist. To date, it is the only release of a Lincoln performance in visual medium. Fortunately, the documentation intensely captures the singer’s level of expressiveness.
If Jazz singers are assessed foremost by depth of purpose, depth of spirit, then Lincoln shoots straight to the top or very close. Time -wise, she is midway in the history of this relatively small group of singers, which began with Billie Holiday followed by Lena Horne, Lincoln, Nina Simone, and is carried on by Cassandra Wilson.
Lincoln strongly resisted efforts of record labels to promote her as a sex symbol, wrote most of her own songs, and unflinchingly voiced social concerns in her music. She gained notoriety for her participation in “The Freedom Suite” composed by jazz drummer Max Roach, who became her only husband (their marriage lasted eight years, before divorcing in 1970). Lincoln was selective in what she sang, preferring to invest only in music that held meaning for her.
