Condition: New
Nina Simone - The Legendary First Recording In New York City, 1957
Label: Doxy Music DOX812
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
New
180 gram HQ vinyl
Includes Bonus CD of entire LP
Country: UK
Released: 2009
Genre: Blues, Jazz
Style: Soul-Jazz, East Coast Blues
Tracklist
A1 Mood Indigo
Written-By Bigard, Ellington, Mills 4:01
A2 Don't Smoke In Bed
Written-By Willard Robison 3:13
A3 He Needs Me
Written-By Arthur Hamilton 2:30
A4 Little Girl Blue
Written-By Rodgers-Hart 4:19
A5 Love Me Or Leave Me
Written-By Kahn, Donaldson 3:22
A6 My Baby Just Cares For Me
Written-By Kahn, Donaldson 3:38
A7 He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
A8 African Mailman
B1 Good Bait
Written-By Count Basie, Tadd Dameron 5:28
B2 Plain Gold Ring
Written-By Earl S. Burroughs 3:53
B3 You'll Never Walk Alone
Written-By Rodgers-Hammerstein II 3:49
B4 I Loves You Porgy
Written-By George & Ira Gershwin 4:11
B5 Central Park Blues
Written-By Nina Simone 6:51
B6 For All We Know
Credits
Bass Jimmy Bond
Drums Albert "Tootie" Heath
Liner Notes [Original] Joseph Muranyi
Vocals, Piano Nina Simone
New York, 1957.
Nina Simone's first official album, 1958's Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club, is pure perfection, an amazing accomplishment for a 24-year-old pianist arranging and singing studio renditions of songs from her live set. Captured here are moments of intrigue, as Simone magically takes the listener through musical caverns that want to be explored again with repeated spins. The rendition of "Plain Gold Ring" is exotic and draws the listener back, just as the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart classic "Little Girl Blue" (the alternate title of the album stamped on the label of the vinyl as well as on the back cover) is a gorgeous work of art, Simone adding the melody from the traditional "Good King Wenceslas" to the standard Janis Joplin would bring to rock audiences a decade later. The cover photograph of the artist on a park bench in Central Park is a play on her only songwriting contribution, "Central Park Blues," which concludes the LP. In her autobiography, Simone gives insight into the recording of this masterpiece, an album that sets different tones with each melodic adventure. The uptempo blues of "Mood Indigo" drops quietly into "Don't Smoke in Bed" and the even deeper blues of "He Needs Me." One can hear Billie Holiday's influence pushing Simone on her own musical path. While Roger Williams was tearing up the popular charts with his middle-of-the-road magic, Simone elegantly plays her jazz with adult contemporary leanings, cracking the Top 20 herself with "I Loves You, Porgy" in 1959. Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club (aka Little Girl Blue) is a superb fusion of jazz, blues, and pop that reveals something new each time it is played.
That record consisted of the following tracks: "Mood Indigo," "Don't Smoke In Bed," "He Needs Me," "Little Girl Blue," "Love Me Or Leave Me," "My Baby Just Cares For Me," Good Bait" (a nice long tempestuous instrumental), "Plain Gold Ring," "You'll Never Walk Alone" (another great instrumental), "I Loves You Porgy," and "Central Park Blues" (a nice pensive instrumental). The versions of I loves you Porgy was the tune that got her signed. Little Girl Blue gets her standard 'Good King Wenceslaws' treatment- that fusion blew me away the first time I heard it! He Needs Me is a sweet sad, poignant short little tune!
I love the style of Nina's piano playing and her original takes on arrangements. That's another reason to get this- her piano playing isn't hampered/over encumbered by a loud band.... Her classical training is showcased all over this! Nina was an imaginative player and this is perhaps the best demonstration of her incredible talent as a pianist (she trained at Juilliard in the 50's to be a classical pianist, if ya didn't know), she rises to the occasion and takes the weight, deftly. This is before she had legions of backup players aiding her- Sometimes it's just a young Nina, her piano and a drum or bass. Excellent! The stripped down atmosphere really suited her!
Nina Simone - My baby just cares for me
Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me (Live @ Montreux)
Don't you wish other artists stayed as flexible as this, and were willing to rework their standards in new ways to prove their sheer brilliance? How many hours did she spend perfecting this version? It was worth every minute of effort.
She was a rare master.
Nina simone - little girl blue
montreux 1976
Little girl blue - live show with piano improvisation
This song makes me feel so different than any other song I have ever heard. The lyrics are true. In one sense they are sad because at some point in your life you will feel intense loneliness and be by yourself. But another interpretation is that this is saying you don't need anyone other than yourself to be alright in the end. It wants you to be independent. It could also, simply be the story of a girl who is sad and lonely and wants to be loved by a boy and there is an old woman cheering her up
Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me
"My Baby Just Cares for Me" is a song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was one of three hit songs from the 1928 musical Whoopee, starring Eddie Cantor and Ruth Etting. It is best known as the signature tune of singer and pianist Nina Simone.
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Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy
Nina Simone was a passionate, soul baring perfectionist and an incredibly intelligent woman. She was therefore MUCH more than just a messenger or a brush. As the song deals with oppression
To me she is perfection.
..for a moment there the world is hauntingly beautiful, captivating, for this moment in time..
Nina Simone - Love Me Or Leave Me
This performance speaks for itself. Her genius speaks for itself. She was an incredible force of music, yet nothing is forced in this performance.
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