Nina Simone " 'Nuff Said!" (1968)

'Nuff Said! (live)

release date: Oct. 1968

format: cd (2011 RM) / vinyl (2015 reissue) (MOVLP1028)

[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,38]

producer: Joe René

label: RCA Victor / Music On Vinyl - nationality: USA

Live album by Nina Simone succeding the album Silk & Soul (Oct. 1967) is a eleven-track album with 8 tracks being recorded live at Westbury Music Fair, Long Island, New York on Apr. 7, 1968. Three songs (tracks #1, #8, and #11) are studio recordings from May '68. The song "Why?" is with strong memory of and a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., who passed away three days prior to the concert - it's a song written on the day of the recording by jazz bassist Gene Taylor (aka Calvin Eugene Taylor) and Simone handles this with supreme quality.

'Nuff Said! is Nina Simone in an exquisite performance, and the 2015 vinyl reissue by Music On Vinyl is a great pressing.

Highly recommended.

Nina Simone "Nina Simone Sings the Blues" (1967)

Nina Simone Sings the Blues

release date: 1967

format: cd (2011 reissue) / vinyl (2013 reissue) (MOVLP878)

[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,32]

producer: Danny Davis

label: RCA Victor / Music On Vinyl - nationality: USA

Studio album by Nina Simone following High Priestess of Soul (1967) is her first release with RCA Victor in long series of acclaimed albums with that label, who understood better to showcase her multifacetted talents more directly than the management at Coolpix Records and Phillips had succeded in.

The album is both a return to the musical sources to her acclaimed debut and also a turn to a more personal expression, where she gives new stylistic twists to familiar vocal jazz staples with soul, with folk, and of course with a strong element of blues. On top of that, the album also showcases Simone as composer of five original compositions.

Nina Simone Sings the Blues is a natural part of the Holy Grail of jazz alogside a handful of her albums.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, All About Jazz 4 / 5 stars ]

Nina Simone "Wild Is the Wind" (1966)

Wild Is the Wind
release date: Sep. 1966
format: cd (2006 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Hal Mooney
label: Verve Record - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "I Love Your Lovin' Ways" - 2. "Four Women" (5 / 5) - 3. "Lilac Wine" - 4. "Break Down and Let It All Out" - 5. "Why Keep on Breaking My Heart" - 6. "Wild Is the Wind" - 7. "Black Is the Colour of My True Love's Hair" (live) - 8. "If I Should Lose You" - 9. "Either Way I Lose"

One of vocal jazz biggest female voices with a great example of her ability to mix soul with jazz and standards. Nina Simone is a wonderful vocalist and this album is one of her finest. Lisening to this, I cannot help thinking of modern contemporary artists like Amy Winehouse, Anohni (vocalist of Anohni and the Johnsons), Jimmy Somerville, and Roland Gift to mention just a few who may have listened to and thought of Miss Simone when shaping their own individual sound. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

Nina Simone "Little Girl Blue" (1959)

Little Girl Blue [debut]

release date: Feb. 1959

format: cd (2013 remaster) / vinyl (2021 remaster)

[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,26]

producer: ? (arr. by Nina Simone)

label: Bethlehem Records / BMG - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Mood Indigo" - 2. "Don't smoke in Bed" - 3. "He Needs Me" (5 / 5) - 4. "Little Girl Blue" (5 / 5) - 5. "Love or Leave Me" (5 / 5) - 6. "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (5 / 5) (TV performance) - 7. "Good Bait" (instr.) - 8. "Plain Gold Ring" - 9. "You'll Never Walk Alone" (instr.) - 10. "I Loves You Porgy" - 11. "Central Park Blues" (instr.)

Studio album debut by Nina Simone (aka Eunice Kathleen Waymon) with 11 tracks stemming from the only recording sessions she did while associated with Bethlehem Records. Regardless, the label would go on for many years after by issuing releases from these recordings - be it compilations, or single releases, and all without Simone's consent. Despite the label did little to promote this album, it soon crept up on the charts and in people's consciousness. The album is one of jazz' great classics, and only one of many outstanding by Nina Simone. Although recorded in 1957, the sound is remarkably dynamic - perhaps due to great remastering, and even though Simone herself alledgedly wasn't thrilled with the compositions, the selected style, the album is a fine document and proof of her eneormous versatility. She may have seen herself as a classic pianist at the time, but the recordings are luckily there to show that she could perform on highest level in any genre and style. Here, she performs as jazz vocalist, as an outstanding interpreter, arranger, and pianist. It's just... mindblowing 'waow'!

Highly recomended.

EDIT 2021:

The 2021 Bethlehem / BMG vinyl remaster is a fine pressing, although, it's in stereo and remastered, but it sounds like a studio recording, although there's probably a lot of adjustments involved, you need to appreciate the end result, and thats quite an accomplishment.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]