Abbey Lincoln

When Abbey Lincoln made her late-life career comeback, she took control of her music and started writing much of her own material. On this 2007 set, Lincoln re-records her songbook with often strikingly different arrangements; her backing band plays an organic combination of chamber jazz, Old World cabaret and cinematic blues. The results are completely transfixing, proving not only Lincoln's skill as a songwriter but also her continuing ability to make you believe that she's experiencing the lyrics the split-second they escape from her mouth.