Over the Years

Considering her superb albums from the past, like You Gotta Pay the Band, it's hard to fathom, but Over the Years is likely Abbey Lincoln's best album. That voice, like a contained volcano, rides a full gamut of conflicting emotions on tunes about war and peace ("When the Lights Go On Again"), love and family abuse ("A Heart Is Not a Toy"), and the simple pleasure of fruit ("Blueberry Blossoms") and self-awareness ("Lucky to Be Me"). She is at once the savvy veteran singing with the tension that a jazz life can bring and the youthful explorer shedding innocence with each musical discovery. Half of these 10 songs are polished originals, in which the actress in Lincoln takes the listener on a voyage. She controls the suspension of belief and only lets go to free the other musicians. Kendra Shank, a devoted disciple who frequently records Lincoln's compositions on her own albums, guest stars on guitar on a track, and Joe Lovano makes a number of subdued turns on sax, while showing a Pharoah Sanders influence on "I'm Not Supposed to Know" and "Windmills of Your Mind." But the most compassionate and valued sideman for Lincoln is her very young pianist, Brandon McCune, who has grown up with Lincoln and may have reached maturity on this release. --Mark Ruffin