RIP Abbey Lincoln

[TonyNYC]

Not country rock, but one of my all time favorite jazz vocalists and an eclectic talent with an impressive film resume that included the great movie Nothing But A Man, a landmark independent film which many site is the first dramatic story featuring a largely black cast created for an integrated audience.

I love her album, You Gotta Pay The Band, which featured Stan Getz in one of his last recording sessions. She wrote about half of the songs and it came out in 1991. I saw her around this time-sans Getz-and it was the first jazz show I ever went to and still one of the top 5 I've seen. Understated and regal, cool and warm at the same time, her voice didn't stand out as being particularly powerful but her phrasing, timing and inflection was remarkable.