''People in Me'' is an album by jazz vocalist

Abbey Lincoln Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist and songwriter. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of delivering dee ...

. It was recorded on June 23, 1973, at Aoyama Victor Studio in Tokyo, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...

. On the album, Lincoln is joined by saxophonist

Dave Liebman David Liebman (born September 4, 1946) is an American saxophonist, flautist and jazz educator. He is known for his innovative lines and use of atonality. He was a frequent collaborator with pianist Richie Beirach. In June 2010, he received a ...

, pianist Hiromasa Suzuki, double bassist Kunimitsu Inaba, drummer

Al Foster Aloysius Tyrone Foster (January 18, 1943 – May 28, 2025) was an American jazz drummer. Foster's professional career began in the mid-1960s, when he played and recorded with hard bop and Swing music, swing musicians including Blue Mitchell and ...

, and conga player

James Mtume James Forman (January 3, 1946 – January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, wo ...

. The album was reissued on CD in 1978 by

Inner City Records Inner City Records was a jazz record company and record label, label founded by Irv Kratka in 1976 in New York City. The company was a division of Music Minus One and also owned the label Classic Jazz. It started with reissues, then moved on to ...

, and again on CD in 1993 by

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

. It was also reissued in Germany with the title ''Naturally'' by the NewEdition label (2005). The album, the first to extensively feature Lincoln's compositions, appeared after a hiatus of roughly twelve years, during which she wrote songs and worked on vocal training. She also toured Africa with

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba ( , ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, ja ...

, where she was given the names "Aminata" and "Moseka," an experience that motivated her to focus on exploring her "inner voices." She recalled: "what I discovered in Africa was that I hadn't been bastardized and ruined. Everybody knew I was an African woman; they just didn't know where to put me." According to Lincoln, the album's title track was her first original song; regarding the process of composing it, she stated: "It really relieved me of whatever anxieties I had been carrying around, and it helped me to make peace with myself."

Reception

Writing for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', John S. Wilson described the album as "a very impressive display of Miss Lincoln's talents as a songwriter as well as a singer," and commented: "she sings with a very positive projection, particularly on her own songs, which are imaginatively phrased statements of her feelings — the search for a homeland in her haunting lyric to John Coltrane's 'Africa,' and 'People in Me,' in which she joyously shouts out the lists of the mingled bloodstreams that make up the human race." In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

wrote: "Every Abbey Lincoln recording is well worth picking up for her sincerity, credibility and talent make each of her dates memorable in their own way." The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' called the album "the one moment where Lincoln's unflinching self-determination founders," and stated that it "finds herself possessed by the spirits of

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

Betty Carter Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative inter ...

and...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

; and, while there is no reason to believe that all these styles can't be subsumed and synthesized, that isn't what’s happening here."

Track listing

# "You and Me Love" (Abbey Lincoln, Johnny Rotella) – 4:25 # "Natas (Playmate)" (Abbey Lincoln) – 2:28 # "Dorian (The Man with the Magic)" (

Ronnie Mathews Ronald Mathews (December 2, 1935, in New York City – June 28, 2008, in Brooklyn) was an American jazz pianist who worked with Max Roach from 1963 to 1968 and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He acted as lead in recording from 1963 and 1978–79. Hi ...

, Abbey Lincoln) – 4:33 # "Africa" (

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

, Abbey Lincoln) – 7:08 # "People in Me" (Abbey Lincoln) – 4:53 # "Living Room" (

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

, Abbey Lincoln) – 5:18 # "Kohjoh-No-Tsuki (Japanese Folk Song)" (

Rentarō Taki was a Japanese pianist and composer of the Meiji era. Taki was born in Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 m ...

, Bansui Tsuchii, Abbey Lincoln) – 3:26 # "Naturally" (Abbey Lincoln) – 4:39

Personnel

– vocals *

– soprano saxophone * Hiromasa Suzuki – piano * Kunimitsu Inaba – double bass *

– drums *

– congas

References

{{Abbey Lincoln 1973 albums Abbey Lincoln albums Philips Records albums