Now, A Jazz Moment...

When she was young, NEA Jazz Master Abbey Lincoln heard her parents' beautiful voices singing around the house and in church. At age fourteen, her sister exposed her to music she'd never heard before.

Abbey Lincoln: Betty Jean brought a recording home of Coleman Hawkins

MUSIC: "Body & Soul," CD: Ken Burns Jazz, Columbia Legacy C5K 61432, (disc 3, cut 1)

Oh, I'd never heard Body & Soul put together like that. And she brought a Billie Holliday record when I was fourteen. And it changed my life, hearing Billy Holliday's sound.

MUSIC: "Solitude", CD: Ken Burns Jazz, Columbia Legacy C5K 61432, (disc 3, cut 7)

It was a sound that went right into my soul and my spirit. She wasn't trying for anything, it was just her sound.

Billie Holiday was one of Abbey Lincoln's biggest influences. Though her delivery is similar in style to Holiday's, she really sings with a sound all her own.

MUSIC: Look to the Star, CD: Wholly Earth, Polygram 559538, (cut 4)

This Jazz Moment with vocalist Abbey Lincoln was created by the National Endowment for the Arts. I'm Delfeayo Marsalis.