Nina Simone Sings The Blues

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The title of Nina Simone’s 1967 RCA debut, <i>Nina Simone Sings the Blues</i>, implies a back-to-basics approach—and, in some way, that’s the through line of this timeless set. The songs are, naturally, mostly blue, with both new compositions like “Do I Move You?” and “Blues for Mama”; standards like “The House of the Rising Sun” and “Since I Fell for You”; and homages to Simone’s blues-queen forbearer, with renditions of works made famous by Lil Green (“In the Dark”) and Bessie Smith (“I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl”). And, in contrast to a number of Simone’s more heavily orchestrated mid-1960s album, the playing on <i>Nina Simone Sings the Blues</i> is pared down and live-sounding, centered on the heavyweight grooves of drummer Bernard Purdie, as anchored by Simone’s inescapable dynamism. Yet the album’s seemingly simple blues theme didn’t stop Simone from stretching out with characteristic emotion and musical complexity, and there’s nothing rudimentary here about her piano-playing and singing. For proof, consider her jaw-dropping take on the <i>Porgy and Bess</i> number “My Man’s Gone Now”: According to one biography, it was recorded in a single, spontaneous take—one that still sounds startlingly new and ambitiou. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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