Abbey Lincoln - It's Me (2003)

Abbey Lincoln is one of the most distinctive, individual voices in jazz and perhaps the only living singer who can be rightfully compared to Billie Holiday, so authentic, particular, and soul-penetrating is her delivery of every song she touches. She one of the mere handful of great jazz vocalists from the mid-twentieth century who continue to perform and record. Alone among her peers, Lincoln has established herself as a singer/songwriter, with a diverse and compelling songbook which in 2002 was recognized in an extraordinary three-night tribute at New York’s Lincoln Center that covered only a fraction of Lincoln’s songwriting output. Since signing to Verve in 1990, Lincoln, now 73, has been making some of her most remarkable recordings in a late-life creative outpouring. It’s Me is her 10th album for Verve, and, as on her previous recordings, Lincoln delivers a half-dozen of her own wise, pithy, poetic new songs and applies her piquant magic to some carefully chosen standards. She also premieres a song by her late brother, Robert Wooldridge and by pianist Cedar Walton (who performed in Lincoln’s band in the ’60s) and sings her own verses to a traditional spiritual.

Critics often remark that Lincoln seems to get better with each album and It’s Me may be her best album yet. This is also the first of Lincoln’s recordings with orchestra, with arrangements by Laurent Cugny and Alan Broadbent on seven tracks, which gracefully buoy the performances without getting in the way of Lincoln’s spare style.
Lincoln rallies a superb band, featuring the incomparably elegant and soulful Kenny Barron on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, and drummer Jaz Sawyer from Lincoln’s own band, and stellar turns by tenor/soprano saxist Julian Lourau and altoist/flautist James Spaulding. In an album that, in many ways, is a love song to jazz, Lincoln leaves room for these remarkable players to stretch out into performances that lend a gratifying depth and richness to the CD.
Lincoln has distilled herself and her art to a fine essence, becoming so uniquely herself that she rings with universal truth. It’s Me is essential Abbey Lincoln — crackling with life, sacred glee, poetic insight, and clear-eyed wisdom.

Track Listing:
01 Skylark 5:25
02 Love Is Made 4:02
03 Chateau de Joux 4:38
04 It's Me, O' Lord (Standin' in the Need of Prayer) 3:42
05 They Call It Jazz 5:14
06 Through the Years 4:30
07 Runnin' Wild 3:52
08 The Maestro 5:25
09 The Search 5:31
10 Yellow Bird 4:45
11 Can You 5:39

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