Abbey Lincoln

Abbey Lincoln, actually Anna Marie Gaby Wooldridge ( born August 6, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois; † August 14, 2010 in Manhattan, New York City ) was an American jazz singer and actress. From a bar singer she developed with her warm alto voice to a " wake up politically, socially conscious and unpretentious " song interpreter that " the honest tradition of Billie Holiday in an original fashion " was continuing ( downbeat ).

Life and work

Anna Marie Wooldridge, who called herself since 1956, Abbey Lincoln, grew up as one of twelve children on a farm in Kalamazoo (Michigan). Previously, she was called as a bar singer already Anna Marie, Gaby Lee, and Gaby Wooldridge. She joined already in high school as a singer and then went to California, where she sang in dance bands from 1951. Two years she performed in clubs in Hawaii as Gaby Lee, after she sang for three years in clubs in Hollywood; in this period originated with the orchestras of Benny Carter and Marty Paich some pop - oriented recordings for the label Liberty ( Abbey Lincoln 's Affair ). In 1956 she had a cameo appearance in the musical comedy The Girl Can not Help it.

In 1957 she sang in clubs in London, and then as the star of the musical Jamaica on tour; then they took an artistic turning point after she had met Max Roach ( and Bill Gray of Riverside Records). In 1957, she published a series of plates under their name at Riverside with Max Roach on drums, who gave her the record deal and whom she married in 1962. Her marriage to Roach was divorced in 1970.

For her first Riverside album That 's Him they sought out material in which it "the spirit of the (...) current black female singers of the 1920s and 1930s evoked - Ethel Waters, Elizabeth Welch and himself never recorded Florence Mills - the first black women, which had been taken from their dignity. " The highlight of the Riverside LPs was Abbey Is Blue (1959 ) with accompanying musicians such as Kenny Dorham, Julian Priester, Stanley Turrentine, Les Spann or Wynton Kelly. Its most important title was " Afro Blue "; " They structured their version in alternating instrumental and vocal sections, connected by an exciting improvisation. " Your fortune as a singer was with Max Roach's We Insist famous! Freedom Now Suite ( Candid, 1960) clearly stands for a stronger political commitment of jazz musicians and especially Abbey Lincoln in the 1960s. In 1961, her album Straight Ahead in Candid. Lincoln worked next to, among other jazz musicians like Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Mal Waldron, Coleman Hawkins, Jackie McLean, Clark Terry, Miles Davis and Stan Getz.

From the 1960s she also dabbled as an actress ( For the Love of Ivy, Nothing But a Man), played in television series such as Mission: Impossible and taught acting at the California State University. She neglected her career as a jazz singer ( 1962 to 1972 she made no recordings under his own name ) and only began again in 1973 einzuspielen Vinyl: The Album People in Me with their own compositions and texts have been published until 1979. Apart from club commitments with their own groups, the few appearances of the support of charitable organizations or politicians served in the following years. In 1979 she worked on book and production of an autobiographical stage play (A Pig In A Poke ). In 1980 she returned after a long absence returned with concerts in New York's Village Vanguard and a European tour on the jazz scene, but devoted himself to further her film activities, such as Spike Lee's Mo ' Better Blues. As a singer she strove increasingly their great idol Billie Holiday by and released a total of three Billie Holiday tribute albums ( Abbey Sings Billie Volume 1.2, Enja 1987). She played a more than twenty albums; most recently in 2007 their CD Abbey Sings Abbey was released by Verve Records, where they stood in 1990 under contract. It is only since that time her much-publicized managed a sustainable comeback with worldwide tours, regular international festival presence and also by the critics recordings.

In 2003 she received the Jazz Masters Fellowship of the state NEA Foundation.

Disco Graphical Notes

Down Beat Kalamazoo, Michigan The Girl Can't Help It Jamaica (Musical) Enja Records NEA Jazz Masters National Endowment for the Arts Curtis Fuller Benny Golson Sahib Shihab Billy Johnson (American football) Marc Johnson (musician) Richard Cook (journalist) Brian Morton (Scottish writer) Leonard Feather Will Friedwald Bob Russell (songwriter) Integrated Authority File
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