Nina Simone Sings the Blues

NINA SIMONE SINGS THE BLUES

Sings the Blues was Simone’s first release on RCA, and it packs quite a different punch than High Priestess of Soul. Gone is the orchestra directed by Hal Mooney. In its place is a combo made up of Simone on piano, Rudy Stevenson and Eric Gale on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, Bob Bushnell on bass, Ernest Hayes on organ, Buddy Lucas on harmonica and tenor sax. This band produces a gritty, urban, un-hyped, un-rock-and-roll’ed version of the blues that allows Simone to cut loose with some of her rawest and most powerful vocal work. The opener, Simone’s own “Do I Move You?” is everything you’d like the blues to be—real, gritty, raunchy, and brimming with soul. “Day and Night,” penned by Stevenson, is pop-oriented R&B, but Simone manages to kick it up a serious notch, putting it in a space that’s more New Orleans Specialty Records than Motown.

“In the Dark” is a classic, and Simone stakes a serious claim on it, with an Etta James-esque vocal that is among her strongest. “Real Real” is a gospel-infused track, with stunningly perfect guitar work and Purdie’s deceptively simple, solid drumming underscored with handclaps. Simone had long been known for her amazing interpretation of “I Loves You, Porgy” from Porgy and Bess. Here, with no accompaniment but her own piano, she hauntingly brings the blues to the fore in her interpretation of “My Man’s Gone Now.” Anyone seeking to deny Simone’s jazz heritage and credentials must listen to this performance before making such a pronouncement. Her ability to perform a ballad with great sensitivity even while stamping it with her personal style brings to mind the same qualities in the work of Miles Davis.

“Backlash Blues” is a Langston Hughes lyric that Simone helped set to music and it remained a staple of her live performances throughout the decade. It’s a pure urban blues, and the band calls some of Muddy Waters’ early Chess sides to mind with their approach and the sound of the recording. Nina follows this up with one of her most gorgeous songs ever: “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl.” It’s melodically appealing, and the lyrics are great as well. But more than anything, it’s Simone’s performance that puts this one over completely. Singing with a great deal of restraint, Simone removes all trace of anger from her voice and manages to occasionally phrase like Billie Holiday without trying to sound like the great singer in any appreciable way, voice-wise.

“Buck” seems like something of a throwaway at first, but ultimately it allows Simone a chance to demonstrate her ability to put across a funky soul number, which she would elaborate on in future releases. “Since I Fell For You,” a successful signature piece for Dinah Washington as well as Etta James, is given a typically distinctive performance by Simone, but one that stands beside those other great recordings without the need to make any kind of comparison between them. The standard “House of the Rising Sun” (which Simone had recorded on one of her Colpix releases) might seem to be an inclusion that RCA hoped would draw in young, white rock music listeners. But a closer listen reveals a pile driving performance that pushes the song into a new, trancelike territory where many levels of spiritual life, death, and rebirth are experienced. The original recording closes out with “Blues for Mama,” a collaboration between Simone and outspoken jazz singer Abbey Lincoln. It demonstrates Nina Simone’s complete vocal power and her ability to get down and dirty with the blues in stark contrast to her more sophisticated pop and jazz work.

Remember, too, that the blues had been marketed to young white audiences under the American folk music banner (now known as ‘American Roots Music’), with releases like Muddy Waters’ Real Folk Blues and More Real Folk Blues. By 1967, electric rock bands and performers such as Eric Clapton were regenerating interest in the blues yet again. So, a blues album may well have looked like a decent commercial move by RCA at the time.

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