Abbey Is Blue [Original recording remastered]

Abbey Lincoln | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 30, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 1959
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Riverside
• ASIN: B000AA4MA4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,274 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You truly hear and feel the singer's love for the songs!, August 11, 2006

By 

Wim Durang "openminded listener, poet" (Belgium) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Abbey Is Blue (Audio CD)

Abbey Lincoln is one of the great jazz legends. Unfortunately, there are too many of those... So not all received the same fame as Ella, Billie and Sarah. Since I discovered her, Abbey Lincoln keeps impressing me, and quickly found a place of honour in my music collection. She is one of a kind and an intelligent and creative artist, going more experimental later on in her career. It sure is no coincidence that she worked with so many great musicians!

I liked to read somewhere that she is rather an "actress with a song" than a singer, with her intense, emotive interpretations. As far as I'm concerned, Abbey even beats her hero Billie Holiday a few times (check also Abbey's 1957 album "That's Him", with "Don't Explain" and "My man").

Indeed, "Abbey is blue" (from 1959) is an essential early recording of Abbey Lincoln. Apparently, Abbey Lincoln was the first to record a sung version of the standard "Afro-Blue", a great opener here.
The aching "Let up" reminds me strongly of Nina Simone (which whom she has the political character of her work in common), yet... it was written by Abbey Lincoln herself!
There's more than a few haunting songs on this album (what's in a name?)! "Lost In The Stars", "Brother, Where Are You?", "Laugh, Clown, Laugh", ... fantastic!!
I wonder how many singers could make the very simply arranged "Lonely house" so captivating as this!

High quality blue atmosphere !

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential, May 10, 1999

By 

David Scott - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abbey Is Blue (Audio CD)

No collection of vocal jazz should be without this. Abbey's versions of Kurt Weill's "Lonely House" and especially "Lost in the Stars" are classic. Many of the performances are imbued with the spirit of the times as well; you can't hear this album and not think about the nascent Civil Rights Movement. A deeply moving and human experience.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abbey has Her Own Way of Jazzing up the Blues, February 19, 2010

By 

Ken Douglas (Landlocked in Reno) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abbey Is Blue (Audio CD)

I had been listening to Billie Holiday a lot before this record came out in March of 1959. My dad was so excited by this voice. His enthusiasm was contagious. Billie's method of jazz singing the blues trained me up for this kind of music and I fell right into this record. Abbey has her own way of jazzing up the blues, quietly here, but you feel the pain, especially on "Let Up". If that song doesn't bring a tear out of you, you're not into this kind of music.

The high point for me on this record is Abbey's rendition of "Laugh, Clown, Laugh". I can't help it, even today when I hear this song, I see Red Skelton and feel what he must have felt when his thirteen-year-old son passed away. I can't quite remember what put that image into my head, but it's a sad one, as is this song and Abbey's voice keeps it that way right up till the last note.

"Come Sunday" is a prayer that will bring more tears, such is the power of Abbey's voice. Fortunately this record ends on an uplifting high note with "Lost in the Stars". After the tears, you need to know that you should "live every minute as long as you're living." Never forget it.

This Record is Number 13 on my list of the Best Thirteen Records of 1959.