Little Girl Blue

Artist: Nina Simone
Label: Bethlehem
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 690978345410
EAN: 0690978345410
ASIN: B000055Y5G

Release Date: 1994-12-01

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| Jazz | Styles | Music

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Listmania:

Easiest Way to Obtain The Original Nina Simone Discography
25 of the Greatest Albums Ever Made
Nina Simone's best and oddest
The perfect evening
Swingin Smoochers
MUSICAL LEGENDS, ONE AND ALL

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
Plain Gold Ring
You'll Never Walk Alone
I Loves You, Porgy
Central Park Blues
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands [*]
For All We Know [*]
African Mailman [*]

Similar Items:

The Amazing Nina Simone/Nina Simone at Town Hall
Four Women: Nina Simone Philips Recordings
Nina Simone at the Village Gate
Sarah Vaughan W/ Clifford Brown
Nina Simone - Live

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful, Swinging, Original.......2006-01-22

I don't think anyone in jazz has ever come close to Nina Simone's achievements as an instrumentalist/vocalist.

I agree with the other reviewer who disliked the way the original order of the songs was changed for this re-release, but that is a minor point. LITTLE GIRL BLUE is one of the most amazing albums I have ever heard. Part of what made the original song order so great was how Nina Simone grabs the listener's attention with a fast, swinging version of "Mood Indigo," which is almost always played at a slow tempo. She makes it sound is if it could never be played any other way. Later in the set, she dazzles once again with a very slow, soulful, funky rendition of "Good Bait." Everyone else plays this tune at an upbeat tempo, but Nina Simone brilliantly reconceptualizes the whole song and makes it sound perfect. Later, she shows us that she can also do the standards in the standard way as well as anyone with a conventional--but still great--version of "I Loves you Porgy." In addition to having one of the finest imaginations in jazz, she was a vocalist of the highest calibre. Her versions of "Little Girl Blue" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me" are particularly outstanding performances in an album full of superlatives. Demonstrating impeccable taste, she chooses to do an instrumental rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone," rather than sing the familiar (and somewhat hokey) lyrics. The result is one of the finest emotional buildups from a subdued beginning to an intense close ever recorded by a jazz musician.

For great vocals, brilliant improvisations, and very creative renditions of several standards, this ranks in my book as one of the all-time great jazz albums.

Nina's first two releases, 1957 and 59! Plus live stuff!.......2005-02-11

If you're checking this out- Good! You've got taste, obviously, or you wouldn't be here. Pick Up a used copy of this little sweetheart- you won't be let down!

For me, the original record, "Jazz As Played In An Exclusive Side Street Club" (US, 1958, BETHLEHEM BCP 6028), was one of those vinyl finds that diggers hope for but RARELY ever get. After a couple hours of grimy fingered flipping through some stacks of old Gospel records in this rundown flea-market in Hinton, WV- I unearthed the title above. Old as hell and grimy, some rain damage- but still... made my week!

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!

Soooooooo... this CD is the Import version of that first album by Nina, plus the second (which was "Nina Simone And Her Friends" (US, 1959, BETHLEHEM BCP 6041: only four tracks: "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands," "I Loves You Porgy" (reprise from the previous album), "For All We Know," and another instrumental- "African Mailman.")). The sound is cleaned up a little. No remastering but the sound was pretty good to begin with. Whoever NEON is- they added four pretty rollicking live tracks at the end to flesh this out. The live tracks are B+, A- quality. I'm not sure where they come from- what show...

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!

My only beef with this is that whoever put it out (Neon?) messed with the original track listing. They mixed songs from the two releases together- not that you'd know if you'd never have heard the original. The vinyl was well put together in terms of how the tracks flowed into each other. Here: there's no real continuity, thematically or stylewise. But once you get this you can play with it to your heart's content- on your PC, IPOD or whathaveyou...

Honestly- you can't go wrong with this CD and you definitely can't go wrong with Nina, may her soul rest in peace.

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