Unsung Abbey Lincoln hasn't changed her tune

Lincoln knew these legendary women, and learned well from them, but her style is not derivative -- nobody sounds like Abbey Lincoln. Whether interpreting standards or her own compositions, her singing can be elegant or provocative, but it is always pure and honest. And from her late 1950s and early 1960s classics such as "Abbey Is Blue" and "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite," through her acclaimed 1990s albums, Lincoln has maintained her musical vision and personal integrity."A song is like a story, and I tell stories," Lincoln says during a recent phone interview from her home in New York. "Some of them I write, some of them I don't, but always I am a storyteller."

"It's Me" is her latest lush collection of "stories," an 11-track gathering of evergreen classics, such as Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer's "Skylark," and original songs, all burnished with a disarming intimacy. It's also Lincoln's ninth album with Jean-Philippe Allard, her producer since 1990 who's given the singer-songwriter her most fertile professional collaboration since her work more than three decades ago with Max Roach, the great jazz drummer and her former husband.

"He's a patron. He regards me with admiration, and a willingness to help me do what I want to do," Lincoln says of Allard. "He's a brilliant musician, even though he doesn't play any instrument, and he knows what he's doing. It's all about what I want, and he helps me to achieve what I want." Lincoln, 73, has always known what she wants and has conducted her career without compromise, sometimes at the risk of wider success. This was most apparent in the 1960s when Lincoln became an outspoken advocate for civil rights. As her music grew more politicized, she was isolated and for many years didn't record an album. (On the flip side, rock musicians of the same period, such as Bob Dylan, were hailed for their social conscience and musical activism.)

Lincoln "committed commercial suicide several times by speaking out," says Lucy O'Brien, author of "She Bop," a history of women in popular music. Yet Lincoln has no regrets. "If you sing, you should have something to say," she says. "I never saw any problem with using my music to speak my mind."

Born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago, Lincoln began performing as a teenager, and by the mid-1950s, she was recording her first albums. As Lincoln came of age as a singer, she met such jazz luminaries as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, and others, whose advice and tutelage greatly influenced her. "I learned my approach to music from the great ones -- Max Roach, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan," Lincoln says. "What I learned from them I carry with me."

Thelonious Monk encouraged Lincoln to write her own songs. She'd often write lyrics to other people's songs, including Monk's "Blue Monk," but hadn't considered herself a composer.

"I didn't become a composer until around 1970. Thelonious Monk said I was a composer even though I didn't know it then," she said. "Songwriting is a matter of expression and learning how to express yourself. You should make it clear what it is you're thinking so people don't have to wonder, `What's she saying?' "

On "It's Me," Lincoln composed four songs: "Love is Made," "Chateaux de Joux," "They Call It Jazz," and "Can You Dig It." There's also her lovely rendition of the traditional spiritual of unknown origin, "It's Me, O Lord (Standin' in the Need of Prayer)," to which she's added new lyrics.

"I don't know who wrote the song -- nobody does -- but I found it to be something I really wanted to express myself," Lincoln said. "I'm glad I could add something to the song."

Despite recent well-received performances in Europe, Lincoln has no plans to tour this country to promote "It's Me" -- "Abbey is tired," she says. If she decided to hit the road, it would be to share her music, which has always been her primary motivation as a singer and songwriter.

"From the beginning, I never looked to money for my life, and consequently, I don't worry about money. I don't do things for the money," she said. "The music -- my music -- is for my life and my ancestors."