Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
Latest editorial
Sophisticated Abbey: A live set from one of the world’s greatest jazz artists
Chris Searle on jazz
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
Abbey Lincoln
Sophisticated Abbey
(High Note)
Abbey Lincoln was born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago in 1930. She began her career in song as a supper-club singer and later as a film performer (singing in the 1957 Hollywood film The Girl Can’t Help It).
Then in the same year she met and later married the great bop drummer Max Roach, and together they were swept into the civil rights campaign and together recorded two highly conscious albums: We Insist! The Freedom Now Suite (1960) and Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961), and she spent the rest of her life as a brilliantly radical singer proving through her singular artistry that the woman could certainly help it.
Similar stories
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
As part of the 2025 London Jazz Festival Rich Mix offered intriguing sessions titled 'Persian Jazz,' CHRIS SEARLE was there
Re-releases from Bobby Wellins/Kenny Wheeler Quintet, Larry Stabbins/Keith Tippet/Louis Moholo-Moholo, and Charles Mingus Quintet
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to saxophonist and retired NHS orthopaedic surgeon ART THEMEN