Product details
- Label Riverside Records
- Artist Abbey Lincoln
- Series CRAFT Recordings
- Format 1LP
- Country United States
- Released Date 2021
- Genre Jazz
- Sealed Yes
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Abbey Is Blue by Abbey Lincoln.
Few records capture the emotional gravity of Abbey Lincoln quite like "Abbey Is Blue," a session that finds one of jazz's most fearless vocalists exploring the many shades of longing, resilience, and quiet defiance. From the opening bars, this is an album that treats the voice as an instrument of pure expression, refusing to flinch from the darker corners of the human heart.
The program opens with "Afro-Blue," a piece that has become a touchstone of the era, its hypnotic pulse setting the tone for everything that follows. From there, Lincoln moves through "Lonely House" and "Thursday's Child" with a phrasing that feels both intimate and monumental, while "Brother, Where Are You?" carries the ache of its title into something unforgettable. The first side closes as a study in mood, each song a small drama unto itself.
Side two deepens the spell. "Come Sunday" brings a hymnlike stillness, and "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise" gives Lincoln room to stretch and swing. "Lost In The Stars" is delivered with aching tenderness, before "Long As You're Living" closes the record on a note of hard-won affirmation. Taken together, the sequence reveals an artist willing to inhabit every emotion completely, never settling for surface prettiness when depth is on offer.
This reissue was produced with the kind of care the music deserves. The all-analog mastering was drawn from the original tapes, with Kevin Gray handling both the remastering and the lacquer cut, building on the original mastering work of Jack Matthews. The result is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, a pairing of source and pressing quality that lets Lincoln's voice sit forward and breathe, with the instrumental backing rendered in full dimension.
The original production credits reflect a golden age of jazz recording, with Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews producing and Jack Higgins engineering the session. Keepnews also contributes the liner notes, offering context that has accompanied the album across its life. The visual presentation carries its own pedigree, with cover design and production by Harris Lewine, Ken Braren, and Paul Bacon, and photography by Lawrence N. Shustak gracing both the cover and back liner.
For collectors, this edition is identified by catalog number CR 00369 on the release itself, appearing as CR00369 on the hype sticker. It is a definitive presentation of a record that has only grown in stature over the decades, a vital document of Abbey Lincoln at a pivotal moment. Few albums earn their title so completely; this is blue in the deepest, most beautiful sense of the word.
Pressing Details:
Track Listing:
A1. Afro-Blue
A2. Lonely House
A3. Let Up
A4. Thursday's Child
A5. Brother, Where Are You?
B1. Laugh, Clown, Laugh
B2. Come Sunday
B3. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
B4. Lost In The Stars
B5. Long As You're Living
Credits:
Harris Lewine - Design [Cover Design And Production]
Ken Braren - Design [Cover Design And Production]
Paul Bacon (2) - Design [Cover Design And Production]
Jack Higgins - Engineer
Kevin Gray - Lacquer Cut By
Orrin Keepnews - Liner Notes
Jack Matthews - Mastered By [Originally]
Lawrence N. Shustak - Photography By [Cover And Back-Liner Photographs]
Bill Grauer - Producer
Orrin Keepnews - Producer
Kevin Gray - Remastered By [All-Analog Mastering]
Notes:
All-Analog mastering from the original tapes.
Pressed on 180=gram vinyl at [url=https://www.discogs.com/label/66254-Record-Technology-Incorporated]RTI[/url].
Cat.number indicated as CR 00369 on release itself and as CR00369 on hype sticker.
Artist: Abbey Lincoln
Format: 1LP
Genre: Jazz
Label: Riverside Records
Catalog Number: CR 00369
Series: CRAFT Recordings
Release Year: 2021
Country: United States
Condition: Sealed (New)
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