Album Title
Nina Simone
Artist Icon Little Girl Blue (1959)
heart off icon (0 users)
Last IconTransparent icon Next icon

Transparent Block
Cover NOT yet available in 4k icon
Join Patreon for 4K upload/download access


Your Rating (Click a star below)

Star off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off iconStar off icon


Star IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar Icon offStar Icon off
Star IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar Icon offStar Icon off

Star IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar Icon
Star IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar Icon
Star IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar Icon



Star IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar IconStar Icon





4:03
3:13
2:30
4:18
3:23
3:38
5:28
3:56
3:48
4:11
6:51
3:11
4:02
3:07

Data Complete
percentage bar 70%

Total Rating

Star Icon (0 users)

Back Cover
Transparent Block

CD Art
CDart Artwork

3D Case
Transparent Icon

3D Thumb
Transparent Icon

3D Flat
Transparent Icon

3D Face
Transparent Icon

3D Spine
Transparent Icon

First Released

Calendar Icon 1959

Genre

Genre Icon Jazz

Mood

Mood Icon Epic

Style

Style Icon Jazz

Theme

Theme Icon ---

Tempo

Speed Icon Medium

Release Format

Release Format Icon Album

Record Label Release

Speed Icon

World Sales Figure

Sales Icon 0 copies

Album Description
Available in:
Little Girl Blue, released in 1959 (recorded in 1957), was Nina Simone's first recording, originally issued on the Bethlehem label. Backed by bassist Jimmy Bond and Albert "Tootie" Heath, it showcases her ballad voice as one of mystery and sensuality and showcases her up-tempo jazz style with authority and an enigmatic down-home feel that is nonetheless elegant. The album also introduced a fine jazz pianist. Simone was a solid improviser who never strayed far from the blues. Check the opener, her reading of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," which finger-pops and swings while keeping the phrasing deep-blue. It is contrasted immediately with one of the -- if not the -- definitive reads of Willard Robison's steamy leave-your-lover ballad "Don't Smoke in Bed." The title track, written by Rodgers & Hart, features "Good King Wenceslas" as a classical prelude to one of the most beautiful pop ballads ever written. It is followed immediately by the funky swing in "Love Me or Leave Me" with a smoking little piano solo in the bridge where Bach meets Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons. It's also interesting to note that while this was her first recording, the record's grooves evidence an artist who arrives fully formed; many of the traits Simone displayed throughout her career as not only a vocalist and pianist but as an arranger are put on first notice here. "My Baby Just Cares for Me" has a stride shuffle that is extrapolated on in the piano break. Her instrumental and improvising skills are put to good use on Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait," which is transformed into something classical from its original bebop intent. "You'll Never Walk Alone" feels more like some regal gospel song than the Rodgers & Hammerstein show tune it was. Of course, one of Simone's signature tunes was her version of "I Loves You, Porgy," which appears here for the first time and was released as a single. Her own "Central Park Blues" is one of the finest jazz tunes here, and it is followed with yet another side of Simone's diversity in her beautiful take on the folk-gospel tune "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," with quiet and determined dignity and drama. Another of her instrumentals compositions, "African Mailman," struts proud with deep Afro-Caribbean roots and rhythms.

Tracklist:
01 - Mood Indigo
02 - Don't Smoke in Bed
03 - He Needs Me
04 - Little Girl Blue
05 - Love Me or Leave Me
06 - My Baby Just Cares for Me
07 - Good Bait
08 - Plain Gold Ring
09 - You'll Never Walk Alone
10 - I Loves You, Porgy
11 - Central Park Blues
wiki icon


User Album Review
None...


External Album Reviews
None...



User Comments
seperator
No comments yet...
seperator

Status
Locked icon unlocked

Rank:

External Links
MusicBrainz Large icontransparent block Amazon Large icontransparent block Metacritic Large Icon