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Nina Simone: Nina Simone Sings the Blues

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: RCA Victor Records
Released: 1967
Time:
 37:56
Category: Vocal, Soul, Jazz
Producer(s): Danny Davis
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.ninasimone.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Do I Move You? (Nina Simone) - 2:46
[2] Day and Night (Rudy Stevenson) - 2:35
[3] In the Dark (Lil Green) - 2:57
[4] Real Real (Nina Simone) - 2:21
[5] My Man's Gone Now (George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) - 4:16
[6] Backlash Blues (Langston Hughes, Nina Simone) - 2:31
[7] I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl (Nina Simone) - 2:32
[8] Buck (Andy Stroud) - 1:52
[9] Since I Fell for You (Buddy Johnson) - 2:52
[10] The House of the Rising Sun (Traditional) - 3:53
[11] Blues for Mama (Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln) - 4:00

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Nina Simone - Vocal, Piano

Eric Gale - Guitar
Rudy Stevenson - Guitar
Ernie Hayes - Organ
Bob Bushnell - Bass
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie - Drums, Timpani
Buddy Lucas - Harmonica, Tenor Sax

Everett Barksdale - Guitar
Wilbur Bascomb, Jr. - Trumpet
Jimmy Cleveland - Trombone
George Coleman - Saxophone
George Devens - Percussion
Richard Harris - Trombone
Haywood Henry - Saxophone
Weldon Irvine - Arranger, Conductor, Organ
Jerry Jemmott - Bass
Harold "Money" Johnson - Trumpet
Montego Joe - Percussion
Jimmy Nottingham - Trumpet
Gordon "Specs" Powell - Percussion, Vibraphone
Seldon Powell - Saxophone
Joe Shepley - Trumpet
Richard Tee - Organ
Norris Turney - Saxophone

Noah Hopkins - Background Vocals
Maretha Stewart - Background Vocals
Ralph H. Fields - Background Vocals
Eileen Gilbert - Background Vocals
Jerry Graff - Background Vocals
Milt Grayson - Background Vocals
Hilda Harris - Background Vocals
Barbara Webb - Background Vocals

Danny Davis - Original Recording Producer
Richard Seidel - Reissue Producer
Ray Hall - Engineer
Mickey Crofford - Engineer
Mark Wilder - Mastering
Mandana Eidgah - Project Director
Howard Fritzson - Art Direction
Michelle Holme - Art Direction
Aimee Lim - Design
Sabeen Ahmad - Photo Research
Liz Reilly - Photo Research
Abe Vélez - Packaging Manager
Steven Berkowitz - A&R
Jeremy Holiday - A&R
Sid McCoy - Liner Notes
David Nathan - Liner Notes

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Nina Simone Sings the Blues, issued in 1967, was her RCA label debut, and was a brave departure from the material she had been recording for Phillips. Indeed, her final album for that label, High Priestess of Soul, featured the singer, pianist, and songwriter fronting a virtual orchestra. Here, Simone is backed by a pair of guitarists (Eric Gale and Rudy Stevenson), bassist (Bob Bushnell), drummer (Bernard "Pretty" Purdie), organist (Ernie Hayes), and harmonica player who doubled on saxophone (Buddy Lucas). Simone handled the piano chores. The song selection is key here. Because for all intents and purposes this is perhaps the rawest record Simone ever cut. It opens with the sultry, nocturnal, slow-burning original "Do I Move You," which doesn't beg the question but demands an answer: "Do I move you?/Are you willin'?/Do I groove you?/Is it thrillin'?/Do I soothe you?/Tell the truth now?/Do I move you?/Are you loose now?/The answer better be yeah...It pleases me...." As the guitarists slip and slide around her husky vocal, a harmonica wails in the space between, and Simone's piano is the authority, hard and purposely slow. The other tune in that vein, "In the Dark," is equally tense and unnerving; the band sounds as if it's literally sitting around as she plays and sings. There are a number of Simone signature tunes on this set, including "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," "Backlash Blues," and her singular, hallmark, definitive reading of "My Man's Gone Now" from Porgy and Bess. Other notable tracks are the raucous, sexual roadhouse blues of "Buck," written by Simone's then husband Andy Stroud, and the woolly gospel blues of "Real Real," with the Hammond B-3 soaring around her vocal. The cover of Buddy Johnson's "Since I Fell for You" literally drips with ache and want. Simone also reprised her earlier performance of "House of the Rising Sun" (released on a 1962 Colpix live platter called At the Village Gate). It has more authority in this setting as a barrelhouse blues; it's fast, loud, proud, and wailing with harmonica and B-3 leading the charge. The original set closes with the slow yet sassy "Blues for Mama," ending with the same sexy strut the album began with, giving it the feel of a Möbius strip. Nina Simone Sings the Blues is a hallmark recording that endures; it deserves to be called a classic.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide



She was known as the High Priestess of Soul for good reason. Nina Simone knew how to move you. Every time she sang the blues, you could feel it in your bones.

Recorded in 1966, this album consists of a reissued LP with two bonus tracks. There's an alternate take from the same session, and then there's "What Ever I Am (You Made Me), which was originally issued as a single in 1969. That one was done with a big studio band.

The blues from the original LP features Simone with organ, guitar, harmonica, bass, and drums. Her blues band is sufficiently small to allow her plenty of freedom. She covers the whole spectrum, from Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey to Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Koko Taylor.

Buddy Lucas picks up the tenor sax for "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl, where Simone takes it nice and slow. Together, she and the band assemble a tightly knitted message that convinces. Standards such as "Since I Fell for You and "My Man's Gone Now turn out equally valid. She's put a quality into the blues that makes it her own. Both tunes, while vastly different in scope, represent unique qualities that can only be identified with this singer.

This arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun drives fast and light with a snare drum shuffle that evokes our melting-pot cultural ties to old New Orleans. Simone is on fire. Most of the original LP features down-home blues with earthy textures. The band helped to deliver this sound authentically, but it's the singer who made it work so well. True blues requires that one feel it and then communicate it to an audience. Few could do that as well. Nina Simone brought us blues from the bottom of her heart.

Jim Santella - January 10, 2006
© 2015 All About Jazz



Sings the Blues (1967) is an album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone. This was Simone's first album for RCA Records after previously recording for Colpix Records and Philips Records. The album was also reissued in 2006 with bonus tracks, and re-packaged in 1991 by RCA/Novus as a 17-track compilation under the title The Blues.

"My Man's Gone Now", from the opera Porgy & Bess by George Gershwin. "Backlash Blues", one of Simone's civil rights songs. The lyrics were written by her friend and poet Langston Hughes. "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl", based on a song by Simone's great example, Bessie Smith, but with somewhat different lyrics. "The House of the Rising Sun", previously recorded by Simone in 1962 on Nina At The Village Gate. After its cover by The Animals became a hit she re-recorded it. The fast-paced version on this album is completely different from the slow, intimate version Simone recorded earlier on Nina at the Village Gate (1962).

Wikipedia.org
 

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