Abbey Is Blue

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = All About Jazz

| rev1Score = {{rating|4.5|5}}

| rev2 = AllMusic

| rev2Score = {{rating|4.5|5}}

| rev3 = DownBeat

| rev3score = {{rating|5|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=DeMichael |first=Don |date=26 May 1960 |title=Abbey Lincoln: Abbey is Blue |magazine=DownBeat |volume=27 |issue=11 |page=38}}

| rev4 = New York Age

| rev4Score = {{rating|1|5}}{{cite news|last1=Stone|first1=Louise Davis|title=The Jazz Bit|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/41041751/?terms=%22Abbey+Is+Blue%22|access-date=8 March 2015|work=New York Age|date=13 February 1960|page=12}}

|rev5 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

|rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=894}}

| rev6 = PopMatters

| rev6Score = {{rating|9|10}}{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/abbey-lincoln-abbey-is-blue |title=Abbey Lincoln's Classic 'Abbey Is Blue' Gets a Richly Deserved Vinyl Reissue |first=Chris |last=Ingalls |date=June 15, 2021 |website=PopMatters |access-date=March 4, 2024}}

|rev7 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| rev7Score = {{rating|5|5}}{{Cite book

|editor-last=Swenson

|editor-first=J.

| year = 1985

| title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone

| location = USA

| isbn = 0-394-72643-X

| pages = 126

}}

| rev8 = The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz

| rev8Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz |publisher=Virgin Books |year=2004 |pages=538 }}

}}

AllMusic awarded the album 4½ stars, with the review by Scott Yanow stating: "Abbey Lincoln is quite emotional and distinctive during a particularly strong set... very memorable".Yanow, Scott, [http://www.allmusic.com/album/abbey-is-blue-mw0000649616 AllMusic Review], accessed September 13, 2012. All About Jazz also gave the album 4½ stars, with David Rickert calling it "a breakthrough performance in jazz singing", and observing: "With the civil rights movement looming over the horizon, no longer did singers need to stick with standards and Tin Pan Alley tunes and could truly sing about subjects that mattered to them. Lincoln picked up Billie Holiday's skill at inhabiting the lyrics of a song and projecting its emotional content outward, and these songs, all of which deal with sorrow, are stark and harrowing accounts of loss and injustice."Rickert, David, [https://www.allaboutjazz.com/abbey-is-blue-abbey-lincoln-fantasy-jazz-review-by-david-rickert.php "Abbey Lincoln: Abbey Is Blue"], All About Jazz, October 16, 2005. Chris Ingalls of PopMatters commented: "The choice of compositions is consistently interesting... and stands apart from so much of the music released during this time... Lincoln was intent on infusing the album with elements of civil rights issues so important to her then and throughout the rest of her life, and it doesn't hurt that her vocals on these standards absolutely soar with emotion and deft technique."

1. "Afro Blue" (Mongo Santamaría, Oscar Brown) - 3:20
2. "Lonely House" (Langston Hughes, Kurt Weill) - 3:40
3. "Let Up" (Abbey Lincoln) - 5:32
4. "Thursday's Child" (Elisse Boyd, Murray Grand) - 3:31
5. "Brother, Where Are You?" (Oscar Brown) - 3:10
6. "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (Ted Fio Rito, Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young) - 5:24
7. "Come Sunday" (Duke Ellington) - 5:13
8. "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Romberg) - 2:46
9. "Lost in the Stars" (Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill) - 4:11
10. "Long as You're Living" (Oscar Brown, Julian Priester, Tommy Turrentine) - 2:33

• Abbey Lincoln - vocals
• Kenny Dorham (tracks 2, 4, 7-9), Tommy Turrentine (tracks 1, 3, 6, 10) - trumpet
• Julian Priester - trombone (tracks 1, 3, 6, 10)
• Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 6, 10)
• Les Spann - guitar (tracks 2, 4, 7-9), flute (track 5)
• Wynton Kelly (tracks 2, 4, 5), Cedar Walton (tracks 3, 6), Phil Wright (tracks 7-9) - piano
• Bobby Boswell (tracks 1, 3, 6, 10), Sam Jones (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7-9) - bass
• Philly Joe Jones (tracks: 2, 4, 5, 7-9), Max Roach (tracks: 1, 3, 6, 10) - drums

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{{Abbey Lincoln}}

{{Stanley Turrentine}}

{{Cedar Walton}}

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Category:1959 albums

Category:Abbey Lincoln albums

Category:Albums produced by Orrin Keepnews

Category:Riverside Records albums