Abbey Lincoln, a jazz singer and songwriter known for her phrasing, emotion and uncompromising style, died Saturday in New York at age 80. She had been declining in health for the past year. Her death was confirmed by friend and filmmaker Carol Friedman, who has been working on a documentary on Lincoln's life. Lincoln made records and acted in films in the 1950s and ‘60s, then saw her career surge again in the 1990s when she found new voice as a songwriter. Over her long career, Lincoln acted with Sidney Poitier and collaborated in music with the drummer Max Roach, whom she married in 1962 and later divorced. In later years, she had chart-topping albums with “You Gotta Pay the Band,” which she recorded with Stan Getz, and “Devil's Got Your Tongue,” in which she rebuked some rappers, comics and filmmakers for profiting from the denigration of black culture.
