--- description: Abbey Lincoln title: Music: Wholly Earth: Abbey Lincoln image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Music: Wholly Earth: Abbey Lincoln by [Bruce Handy](/author/bruce-handy/) Mar 1, 1999 5:00 AM CUT by [Bruce Handy](/author/bruce-handy/) Mar 1, 1999 5:00 AM CUT Lincoln may be jazz’s most prolific singer-songwriter, having penned seven out of 10 songs here, some of which even have pop-worthy melodies (this is meant as a compliment; her lyrics, on the other hand, tend toward metaphysical goofiness). But the voice is why you should care. As if she is still stung by decades-old criticisms that she’s not a “true” jazz singer, Lincoln’s phrasing can sound eccentric, even perverse, yet few vocalists can rival her ability to convey pure emotion–by turns rueful, reflective and exultant. She has been on a roll in the ’90s and shows no signs of stopping. –By Bruce Handy Music: Wholly Earth: Abbey Lincoln ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6734743/music-wholly-earth-abbey-lincoln/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6734743/music-wholly-earth-abbey-lincoln/"},"headline":"Music: Wholly Earth: Abbey Lincoln","datePublished":"1999-03-01T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T07:12:21.364Z","description":"Abbey Lincoln","url":"https://time.com/archive/6734743/music-wholly-earth-abbey-lincoln/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bruce Handy","url":"https://time.com/author/bruce-handy/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6734743/music-wholly-earth-abbey-lincoln/","name":"Music: Wholly Earth: Abbey Lincoln"}}]}] ```