Nina Simone Sings the Blues

by Nina Simone

Overview

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 Moebius strip. Nina Simone Sings the Blues is a hallmark recording that endures; it deserves to be called a classic. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	11/26/2013
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8718469533701

Tracks

1. Do I Move You?
2. Day and Night
3. In the Dark
4. Real Real
5. My Man's Gone Now
6. Backlash Blues
7. I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl
8. Buck
9. Since I Fell for You
10. The House of the Rising Sun
11. Blues for Mama

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nina Simone   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals,Lead Vocals
Bob Bushnell   6-String Bass,Bass
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie   Drums,Timpani
Maretha Stewart   Vocals
Barbara Webb   Vocals
Harold "Money" Johnson   Trumpet
Money Johnson   Trumpet
Wilbur Bascomb   Trumpet
Richard Harris   Trombone,Trombone
Noah Hopkins   Vocals
Jerry Graff   Vocals
Bernard Purdie   Drums,Timpani
Seldon Powell   Saxophone
Everett Barksdale   Guitar
Maeretha Stewart   Vocals
George Devens   Percussion
George Coleman   Saxophone
Buddy Lucas   Harmonica,Sax (Tenor)
Haywood Henry   Saxophone
Wilbur Bascomb, Jr.   Trumpet
Montego Joe   Percussion
Gordon Powell   Percussion,Vibraphone
Jerome Graff   Vocals
Eric Gale   Guitar
Ernie Hayes   Organ
Hilda Harris   Vocals
Joe Shepley   Trumpet
Jimmy Nottingham   Trumpet
Weldon Irvine   Organ,Conductor
Jerry Jemmott   Bass
Eileen Gilbert   Vocals
Jimmy Cleveland   Trombone
Richard Tee   Organ
Rudy Stevenson   Guitar
Milt Grayson   Vocals
Norris Turney   Saxophone
Ralph H. Fields   Vocals
Gordon "Specs" Powell   Percussion,Vibraphone

Technical Credits

Howard Fritzson   Art Direction
Tim Brymn   Composer
Sabeen Ahmad   Photo Research
Mandana Eidgah   Project Director
Traditional   Composer
Steven Berkowitz   A&R
Andy Stroud   Composer
Sid McCoy   Liner Notes
Langston Hughes   Composer
Mickey Crofford   Engineer
Abbey Lincoln   Composer
Buddy Johnson   Composer
David Bryan   Composer
Danny Davis   Producer,Original Recording Producer
Bert Williams   Composer
Lillian "Lil" Green   Composer
Ray Hall   Engineer
Alan Price   Composer
Willie Dixon   Composer
Hans Zimmer   Composer
Jeremy Holiday   A&R
David Nathan   Liner Notes
George Gershwin   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
DuBose Heyward   Composer
Weldon Irvine   Arranger
Richard Seidel   Reissue Producer
Mark Wilder   Mastering
Rudy Stevenson   Composer
Nina Simone   Composer
Michelle Holme   Art Direction
Aimee Lim   Design
Lil Green   Composer
Abe Velez   Packaging Manager
Liz Reilly   Photo Research