Nina Simone Sings the Blues
by Nina Simone
- Type: Album
- Released: June 1967
- Label: RCA Victor
- Country: United States
- Length: 37:40
- Community rating: 4.34/5 from 13 ratings
Artists on this release: Bernard Purdie, Bob Bushnell, Buddy Lucas, Eric Gale, Ernie Hayes, Rudy Stevenson
Album Notes & Community Reviews
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.
Genres
Descriptors: bluesy, vocal, piano, theatrical, soulful
Tracklist
- Do I Move You? (2:45)
- Day and Night (2:34)
- In the Dark (2:56)
- Real Real (2:20)
- My Man's Gone Now (4:16)
- Backlash Blues (2:29)
- I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl (2:32)
- Buck (1:51)
- Since I Fell for You (2:50)
- The House of the Rising Sun (3:51)
- Blues for Mama (3:56)
- Do I Move You - Version II (2:17)
- Whatever I Am (You Made Me) (3:03)
Credits
- Nina Simone - vocals, piano
- Eric Gale - guitar, Guitar
- Rudy Stevenson - guitar, Guitar
- Ernie Hayes - organ
- Bob Bushnell - bass
- Bernard Purdie - drums, timpani
- Buddy Lucas - harmonica, tenor saxophone, Harmonica Tenor Saxophone
- Everett Barksdale - guitar
- Weldon Irvine - organ, arranged and conducted
- Richard Tee - organ
- Jerry Jemmott - bass
- Specs Powell - vibes, percussion
- Montego Joe - percussion
- George Devens - percussion
- Joe Shepley - trumpets
- Jimmy Nottingham - trumpets
- Harold Johnson - trumpets
- Wilbur Bascomb - trumpets
- Jimmy Cleveland - trombones
- Richard Harris - trombones
- Seldon Powell - saxophones
- George Coleman - saxophones
- Norris Turney - saxophones
- Haywood Henry - saxophones
- Ralph H. Fields - vocals
- Eileen Gilbert - vocals
- Jerome Graff - vocals
- Milt Grayson - vocals
- Hilda Harris - vocals
- Noah Hopkins - vocals
- Maeretha Stewart - vocals
- Barbara Webb - vocals
- Bernard “Pretty” Purdie - Drums (drum Set) Timpani
- Danny Davis - Producer
- Mickey Crofford - Recording
- Ray Hall - Recording
- Sam Ellis - Performer