Abbey Lincoln Happy Birthday!

First I would like to acknowledge the Birthdate of Abbey Lincoln, August 6, 2024. Today would be her 94th birthday.

I have a somewhat cute and naive story to tell about my first meeting with Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach. It must have been 1968. I was a young man working at JFK for United Airlines as a customer service agent. One mid afternoon, I was checking in passengers. A nice looking African-American couple walked up to me. The woman handed me a ticket. I recognized the name written on the ticket. It was “Abbey Lincoln.”

I remembered her name from having seen her in a movie or two. I was excited. I checked her baggage, then I asked her if she wouldn’t mind giving me her autograph. As she was in the process of giving me her autograph, a colleague walked over to Max Roach and said “Hello Mr. Roach, I’m a big fan of yours. Can I get your autograph?”

I said to my colleague “Hey here’s Abbey Lincoln, a famous actress (Nothing But a Man and For Love of Ivy), you should ask her for her autograph.” The colleague said to me ,“You should ask Mr. Roach for his autograph, he’s the greatest drummer in the world.” I responded, “He can’t be as famous as Ms. Lincoln.”

In the meantime, Abbey and Max were smiling as they were observing our conversation.

I looked back to Abbey Lincoln and said to her “Ms. Lincoln I hope you have a wonderful flight.” Max Roach then said to me, “Do you want my autograph too?” I responded, “I don’t know who you are, but if you want to give me your autograph, ok.”

Max Roach look at me, then at Abbey, then back to me and said “You’ve gotten the autograph of the best of us two.” Max walked away with Abbey while saying, “Can you believe that?”

I was 24 years old and I knew nothing about Jazz. But that was the memory that remains with me and my meeting Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach. In subsequent years, I founded ROUTES, I got to see both of them in concert. The last time I saw Abbey Lincoln in concert was at the 92nd Street Y. I was just mesmerized. I still remember her performance. She was quiet in her delivery and moved so effortlessly within the renditions with her trio. Among the eloquent songs I remember was “Bird Alone.”

In later years, I reminisced about the episode with a friend of mine, Chris Albertson. He cautioned me, “If you ever get a chance to privately talk with either Abbey or Max, never bring up that long ago first meeting. They both hate the mention of the other’s name.”