Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Is Blue (1959)

One of my absolute favorite vocal jazz records. Slow-burning, ethereal sounds for the late-night hours, addressing heartache and racial injustice in powerful, sorrowful terms.

Track listing:

1. Afro-Blue

2. Lonely House

3. Let Up

4. Thursday's Child

5. Brother, Where Are You?

6. Laugh, Clown, Laugh

7. Come Sunday

8. Softly, as a Morning Sunrise

9. Lost in the Stars

10. Long as You're Living

Sometimes I think maybe God's gone away

Forgetting his promise and the word he'd say

And we're lost out here in the stars

You'll probably also wanna hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Kimiko Kasai - Butterfly (1979)