Abbey is Blue is a record that stands out among many other vocal jazz albums by Abbey Lincoln herself and other singers of this classic jazz era, just as much for what it does include as for what is often not present in this album. The first thing that stands out here, besides Lincoln's gorgeous voice of course, is what it lacks: elaborate arrangements of any kind. In terms of the band that accompanies Lincoln throughout the album, everything here is generally quite minimal. This sparseness here is arguably one of the most important aspects of this album. The band, which included talented musicians such as Kenny Dorham (trumpet) and Max Roach (drums), contributed the perfect amount of mellow, sparse and often melancholic sounding accompaniment, giving the space needed for Lincoln's beautiful voice and lyrics to take center stage.
The second key element here is the lyrics. Records are often praised with the adjective “timeless”, but the beauty of Abbey Is Blue is found in the fact that it is a record, musically and lyrically, that could not be more of its time. Although it is not always directly spelled out here, afrocentrism is all over Abbey Is Blue. This should come as no surprise, as the LP was recorded during the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, Lincoln was a strong civil rights advocate herself and is an extremely important presence on Freedom Now by Max Roach, one of the stand out civil rights centric records of jazz history. Furthermore, the title and the overall sound of this record, often gloomy and occasionally dispirited, could be taken as commentary on, or in any case, was most definitely influenced by the extreme and blatantly racist climate of the United States at the time this record was made.
Lincoln celebrates the beauty of blackness on "Afro Blue", turns a simple nursery rhyme into a touching and somber piece of jazz on "Thursday's Child" and sings what could be interpreted as a lyrical portrait of the frustrations of the African American community or as a description of a relationship gone horribly wrong in the self penned "Let Up". Lincoln's singing cadence is extremely emotional - songs like "Come Sunday" perfectly capture the mix of desperation, perseverance, tiredness and faith that are often associated with the Civil Rights Movement. "Brother, Where are You?" is another highlight, with some outstanding flute playing by Les Spann combined with what may be the best performance vocally on the record - the chorus is fantastic. The songs in general here range from great to outstanding, there is nothing that comes even close to being an average track.
Despite the fact that Abbey is Blue may not have the notoriety necessary for this to even be the general consensus, a good number of these songs could rank among some of the best vocal jazz performances of all time. In particular, this record should be recommended highly to anyone who is a fan of Billie Holiday, due to the slight vocal similarities and the fact that Lincoln was influenced by her. Lincoln's divine voice meshes perfectly with the spacey arrangements, creating one of the best vocal jazz albums of her time.
