Tag Archives: Abbey Lincoln

Max Roach – Driva´ Man (1960)

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Driva Man is the first track on the album We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.

We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite is a jazz album released on Candid Records in 1960. It contains a suite which Max Roach and lyricist Oscar Brown had begun to develop in 1959 with a view to its performance in 1963 on the centennial of the Emancioation Proclamation. The cover references the sit-in movement of the Civil Rights Movement. The Penguin Guide to Jazz has awarded the album one of its rare crown accolades, in addition to featuring it as part of its Core Collection.

The music consists of five selections concerning the Emancipation Proclamation and the growing African independence movements of the 1950s. [source]

James Schenck (Bass) / Michael Olatuniji (Congas) / Max Roach (Drums) / Walter Benton (Tenor Saxophone) / Coleman Hawkins (Tenor Saxophone) / Julian Priester (Trombone) / Booker Little (Trumpet) / Abbey Lincoln (Vocals)

 

and here a live version from 1964:

Abbey Lincoln – Vocals
Clifford Jordan – Tenor Saxophone
Coleridge Perkinson – Piano
Eddie Khan – Bass
Max Roach – Drums

Abbey Lincoln – Throw It Away (2007)

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This version of Throw It Away by Abbey Lincoln is from 2007. The album Abbey Sings Abbey (Verve Records) was her last album before she died three years later.

At almost 77 years of age Abbey Lincoln has been composing, writing and/or performing for almost sixty years, and Abbey Sings Abbey is a stunning collection of some of the singer’s most memorable works.

Lincoln is a writer of some depth and the eleven original tunes on this CD offer strong testament to her poetic talents. The lyrics of each song impart a serious message, it’s true, but her matter-of-fact acceptance of life’s crummier bits leaves one feeling almost optimistic. We all have to go through these awful things, she comforts us by saying, which means that we are not alone.

On this CD Lincoln doesn’t use the straight-ahead jazz arrangements that one might expect of a singer of her generation. Instead, she creates blues- and country-infused moods by the careful employ of some nontraditional jazz instruments—pedal steel guitar, mandolin, accordion and cello. [source]

Tracks: 1. Blue Monk  -  2. Throw It Away  -  3. And It’s Supposed To Be Love  -  4. Should’ve Been  -  5. The World Is Falling Down  -  6. Bird Alone  -  7. Down Here Below  -  8. The Music Is The Magic  -  9. Learning How To Listen  -  10. The Merry Dancer  - 11. Love Has Gone Away  - 12. Being Me

The Line Up:

Abbey Lincoln – Vocals

Larry Campbell – Guitars, Mandolin

Scott Colley  - Bass

Shawn Pelton – Drums

Gil Goldstein – Accordion

Dave Eggar  - Cello


Max Roach featuring Abbey Lincoln – Freedom Day (1960)

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We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite is a jazz album released on Candid Records in 1960. It contains a suite which Max Roach and lyricist Oscar Brown had begun to develop in 1959 with a view to its performance in 1963 on the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. The cover references the sit-in movement of the Civil Rights Movement. The Penguin Guide to Jazz has awarded the album one of its rare crown accolades, in addition to featuring it as part of its Core Collection. The music consists of five selections concerning the Emancipation Proclamation and the growing African independence movements of the 1950s. Only Roach and Lincoln perform on all five tracks, and one track features a guest cameo by one of the inventors of jazz saxophone playing, Coleman Hawkins.

Max Roach — drums
Abbey Lincoln — vocals
Booker Little — trumpet on “Driva Man,” “Freedom Day,” “All Africa,” and “Tears for Johannesburg”
Julian Priester — trombone on “Driva Man,” “Freedom Day,” and “Tears for Johannesburg”
Walter Benton — tenor saxophone on “Driva Man,” “Freedom Day,” and “Tears for Johannesburg”
Coleman Hawkins — tenor saxophone solo on “Driva Man”
James Schenk — bass on “Driva Man,” “Freedom Day,” and “Tears for Johannesburg”
Michael Olatunji — congas, vocal on side two
Raymond Mantilla, Tomas du Vall — percussion on side two