"But the whole thing….I never had any rights What rights have you? Unless you can kill him. The African women could do that!" She is still light with it, a philosophy of post-was summary. She pauses to reflect, however deeply, "What was wrong with Roach and me was the approach to marriage." And with that one must withdraw before the water is over your head.
     "The only way I survive is to keep running my mouth. That's how I keep from being wiped out, to keep expressing myself!" The talk goes to the wonders of her last albums, the signifying Devil Got Your Tongue! and Wholly Earth, You Gotta Pay The Band, where not only are we moved by Abbey's poetic mastery, of form and content whether her own lyrics or the unique creativity through which she delivers someone else's words.
     One remembers the awesome aura of simple WOW that she evokes from us on Stevie's "Golden Lady", even the old horses, "What are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?" or "You're My Thrill". What about her amazing,"Throw It Away", or innovative new worlds provided by "Caged Bird" or "Africa" or the liberation motifs of "Tears", "Driva Man", "Freedom Day". The ultra-hip "Blue Monk"
     Of those classic pieces, Abbey has a penchant for digging up forgotten or neglected masterworks, e.g., "Brother Can You Spare A Dime", the sound of which provides old folks with a newsreel of the Depression, WPA, or maybe Fonda in "Grapes of Wrath". Another such evocative time machine is the WW2 romance, "When The Lights Go On All Over The World", which conjured "Casablanca" and "To Have & Have Not".
     On her way to Los Angeles to perform at the Masonic Hall and the Jazz Bakery, we are discussing the various trends and camps she is checking, bouncing them around for verification. "Best thing I ever did for myself is practice the arts. She is confirming with delight the wisdom of her own choices; I was a singer, a painter, actress, a playwright, a composer. I wrote a thesis on Africa and Egypt. I don't want to do an autobiography because of the ugly spirit in this place. They take your stuff and twist it.
     "And I'm tired of them talking about 'Women in the Music', like it's new. Women always been in this music. But the men have been at the front of it. The men have a hard time keeping a standard that individual. If the work is to be seen it has to be original. Otherwise you can kick his booty butt off the stage. But John Coltrane, Bird…that's the people who are out front…
     "Really. I feel attacked when people bring up all the feminist idea in jazz…" It's gets funny to her, about the modes of creativity identified with gender, " (A woman) She can make a baby…She comes looking for a man…takes him home like a sandwich…

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