(July 7, 2022) Abby Lincoln is among that group of vocalists who go underappreciated by many music fans but is deeply loved and appreciated by musicians and particularly singers and songwriters. Longtime fans remember her work with her husband and great be-bop drummer Max Roach that gave us socially conscious records such as “We Insist” during the 1960s. Lincoln was a peerless interpreter of Great American Songbook tunes, as well as an excellent songwriter in her own right.
Miki Howard can be described in the same fashion. She’s a topflight vocalist who is the child of gospel music royalty and who transitioned into the R&B world. Howard has been a showstopper as a part of a singing group, and a chart topping and Grammy winning solo singer. Howard is also an artist who has a deep understanding for music history and a love of jazz music. She often pays her respect to the women of jazz – most notably Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington – through her interpretations of the tunes that made them famous.
Howard recently gifted us with her cover of one of Lincoln’s most personal and reflective tunes, “Throw It Away.” “Throw It Away” is a song that becomes magic when performed by someone who allows their life experiences to guide them through lyrics that speak about leaving oneself open to loving and the risk of being hurt. Lincoln wrote from that standpoint and Howard with her voice deepened and softened by time has the life experience to caress the lyrics and be moved and swayed by the pensive swing of the arrangement.
Howard takes this cover and makes it her own. Check it out here.
By Howard Dukes
Miki Howard – “Throw It Away”
