Nina Simone Sings the Blues

As her debut for RCA Victor, 'Nina Simone Sings the Blues' is a focused and potent collection that strips back the arrangements to foreground Simone's raw, commanding vocals and percussive piano. The production supports her with a tight, skilled ensemble, allowing for a direct and emotionally visceral exploration of the blues that ranges from the sensual ache of "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" to the haunting despair of "My Man's Gone Now." Significantly, the album also features the formidable civil rights anthem "Backlash Blues," a collaboration with poet Langston Hughes that solidifies the record's cultural and historical importance.