Little Girl Blue (2021 - Stereo Remaster) Nina Simone

• 1 Mood Indigo (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 04:06
• 2 Don't Smoke in Bed (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 03:15
• 3 He Needs Me (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 02:32
• 4 Little Girl Blue (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 04:21
• 5 Love Me or Leave Me (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 03:26
• 6 My Baby Just Cares For Me (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 03:41
• 7 Good Bait (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 05:33
• 8 Plain Gold Ring (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 03:58
• 9 You'll Never Walk Alone (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 03:49
• 10 I Loves You, Porgy (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 04:13
• 11 Central Park Blues (2021 - Stereo Remaster) 06:54
• Total Runtime 45:48

Info for Little Girl Blue (2021 - Stereo Remaster)

"Little Girl Blue", 1957 erschienen, war Nina Simones erste Schallplatte, ursprünglich bei Bethlehem veröffentlicht. Mit der Unterstützung von Bassist Jimmy Bond und Albert 'Tootie' Heath präsentiert Simone ihre geheimnisvoll und sinnlich klingende melodiöse Stimme, ihren lebhaften und souveränen Jazz-Stil sowie ein hintergründiges und bodenständiges Empfinden, das dennoch geschmackvoll wirkt. Das Album stellt zudem eine hervorragende Jazz-Pianistin vor. Simone war eine fachmännische Improvisiererin, entfernte sich jedoch niemals weit vom Blues. Das Eröffnungstück ist ein guter Beweis, ihre Interpretation von Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo", das gewissermaßen mit den Fingern schnippt und swingt, während die Phrasierung tief im Blues verhaftet bleibt. Als Kontrast folgt eine Version - wenn nicht die ultimative - von Willard Robisons heißer Ballade zum Thema 'den Liebsten/ die Liebste verlassen', "Don't Smoke in Bed". Das Titelstück, verfasst von Rodgers & Hart, ist "Good King Wenceslas" als klassisches Vorspiel zu einer der schönsten Popballaden, die je geschrieben wurden. Es folgt im funkigen Swing "Love Me Or Leave Me" mit einem glühenden kleinen Klaviersolo in der Überleitung, wo Bach auf Horace Silver und Bobby Timmons trifft. Es ist auch interessant festzustellen, dass, wiewohl dies Simones erste Plattenaufnahme war, eine Künstlerin präsentiert wird, die zu voller Größe gereift auf der Bühne erscheint; viele Charakteristika, die Simone im Lauf ihrer Karriere nicht nur als Sängerin und Pianistin, sondern auch als Arrangeurin auszeichneten, sind hier erstmalig zu erkennen.

"My Baby Just Cares For Me" hat einen weit ausholenden Shuffle, der im Zwischenspiel des Klaviers fortgeschrieben wird. Ihr Können, sowohl auf dem Instrument als auch beim Improvisieren nützt sie bestens bei Tadd Damerons "Good Bait", das vom ursprünglich beabsichtigten Bebop zum klassischen Stück transformiert wird. "You'll Never Walk Alone" empfindet man eher als majestätischen Gospel-Song denn als die urprünglich von Rodgers & Hammerstein geschriebene Musical-Melodie. Und selbstverständlich war eine von Simones Erkennungsmelodien ihre Version von "I Loves You, Porgy", die hier erstmalig zu hören ist und als Single veröffentlicht wurde. Ihr eigener "Central Park Blues" ist eine der schönsten Jazzmelodien auf dieser Platte.

Nina Simone, Gesang, Klavier
Jimmy Bond, Kontrabass
Albert "Tootie" Heath, Schlagzeug

Digitally remastered

Nina Simone
Nina Simone (1933-2003) holds a unique place amongst the great jazz performers of all time. What sets her apart from other jazz masters is not only her captivating and sultry voice and skillful command of the piano, but her aptitude in almost every genre of music there is. She has taken soul, jazz, and pop to new levels, as well as proving herself in blues, gospel, Broadway, folk, classical, and opera. She also performed and recorded many of her own compositions.

Born Eunice Waymon in North Carolina, Simone grew up in a family with eight children. She started out as a classical pianist, but in 1954 the financial necessity of her family led her to take a job in an Atlantic City nightclub. After auditioning for the gig, the owner told her that she could have it, but only if she agreed to sing as well. Thus, Nina ("little one") Simone (French actress Simone Signoret), was born.

In the late 1950s, Simone began recording on a small label, Bethlehem Records. In 1959, she had a Top 20 hit. "I Loves You Porgy," a song from George Gershwin’s musical "Porgy and Bess." This was the only song that Simone recorded in her entire career that made the Top 40. Hits were not a big concern, however. Simone did just fine performing in nightclubs and making albums, most of them live recordings. She recorded nine albums in the early 1960s alone.

In the mid-‘60s, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Simone composed several songs, including "Old Jim Crow" and "Mississippi Goddam" which were issued on her first album with Philips (Nina Simone in Concert). "Mississippi Goddam" was written in response to the death of four black children in a church bombing, in 1963. It was her protest songs that best demonstrated Simone’s amazing ability to communicate, deeply and clearly, human emotion, especially those of Black people in the U.S.A. It was around this time that people began referring to Simone as the "High Priestess of Soul," after she put out an album of the same name. Along with her original songs, Simone chose some diverse covers. Songs like Weill–Brecht’s "Pirate Jenny," "I Put a Spell on You," and "See Line Woman," were among some of the others that Simone transformed into classics. Her experimentation with timing, her use of silence, her low and intense vocals, her impeccable piano playing capabilities, and her inimitable live act, turned every song she sang into a fresh and magnificent Nina Simone creation. In the late 60s and early 70s, Nina was recording for RCA. An original song, "Young, Gifted & Black" was considered somewhat of a Black national anthem of the time. This song, inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s play of the same title, was has since been covered by Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway. During this brief period of time, Simone was remarkably prolific, releasing nine albums. Despite the quantity and quality of her product, Simone was not particularly well served by RCA.

Later in the decade, Simone’s personal life began to see some trouble. She divorced her husband and manager, Andy Stroud, and became disillusioned by the record industry when she found herself in financial trouble after all the effort she had put forth. Disgusted with show business, as well as with racism in the U.S.A., Simone moved to Barbados in 1974. In the years to come she lived in Liberia, Switzerland, Paris, the Netherlands, and the South of France. The frequency of her recordings slowed significantly after she left RCA, but in 1978, Simone released Baltimore, for the label CTI, which contained the definitive version of Judy Collins’s "My Father." Since then Simone has recorded several albums, most recently "A Single Woman," a studio album released in 1993. She has written her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, received an Honorary Doctorate in Music and Humanities, and has continued to perform at festivals and events around the world.

Despite her self imposed exile and her obvious outspoken lack of appreciation for the recording industry, Nina Simone is a legend of incalculable magnitude. Still today she is able to arouse new and young listeners, as well as hold the attention of life-long devoted fans. Nina Simone has burned her soulful, musical wonders on the psyche of jazz lovers everywhere, and has inspired love and compassion in places seemingly bereft of such trying emotions. Rachel F. Newman (Source: Verve Music Group)

This album contains no booklet.