Abbey Is Blue is the fourth album by American jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln, recorded in 1959 for Riverside Records. The album features an all-star lineup that includes Kenny Dorham, Stanley Turrentine, Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, Philly Joe Jones and Max Roach. A breakout performance for the jazz legend, this album displays Lincoln perfectly poised between jazz for show and jazz with a purpose. 

• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl LP
• All analog mastering
• Cut from the original master tapes
• Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Pressed at RTI in the USA
• Tip-On Deluxe Cover

180g Vinyl LP Reissue All-Analog Mastered from the Original Tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and Pressed at RTI!

Abbey Is Blue, the landmark 1959 album from the legendary jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln, returns to 180g vinyl LP in a newly remastered edition with single Tip-On jacket packaging courtesy of Craft Recordings. Originally released as Lincoln's fourth and final recording with Riverside Records, Abbey is Blue took a stark turn from her earlier releases, which typically consisted of standards from the Great American Songbook.

As the title suggests, Abbey Is Blue finds the singer solemn and reflective. Her vocal talents, meanwhile, are on display, as Lincoln soulfully embodies the lyrical content of her songs. Lincoln handpicked each of the songs on the album, including the Kurt Weill/Langston Hughes-penned "Lonely House," from the 1946 opera Street Scene, the cutting theme to the 1928 silent film Laugh, Clown, Laugh, and Mongo Santamaría's jazz standard, "Afro Blue," featuring lyrics by Oscar Brown. Lincoln, a talented songwriter in her own right, also included one of her original compositions, "Let Up."

The songs on Abbey Is Blue lamented the injustices that were happening across the country – particularly towards Black Americans. Just one year later, Lincoln, who was a passionate civil rights activist, offered an even bolder statement alongside her husband, Max Roach, on the incendiary We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite. Roach also appears on Abbey Is Blue, along with such talented players as Kenny Dorham, Stanley Turrentine, Philly Joe Jones, Wynton Kelly, and Sam Jones.

In his original liner notes for Abbey Is Blue, Riverside co-founder Orrin Keepnews (who co-produced the album) proclaimed, "It is certainly the best singing by far that Abbey has done on record, and I think now – as I did much of the time while it was being recorded – that it stands up as among the most effective and moving albums that any singer has created in a long time."

Musicians:

Bobby Boswell, bass/double bass
Kenny Dorham, trumpet
Philly Joe Jones, drums
Sam Jones, bass
Wynton Kelly, piano
Abbey Lincoln, vocals
Julian Priester, trombone
Max Roach, drums
Les Spann, flute
Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax
Tommy Turrentine, trumpet
Cedar Walton, piano
Phil Wright, piano

Track Listing:

Side A
1. Afro-Blue
2. Lonely House
3. Let Up
4. Thursday's Child
5. Brother, Where Are You?

Side B
1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh
2. Come Sunday
3. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
4. Lost In The Stars
5. Long As You're Living

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫