Little Girl Blue

You can’t get any more popular in American entertainment than Keely Smith was in the early ‘60s. Having blown the doors out in Las Vegas, winning a Grammy, having hit after hit and lighting up television screens playing straight “man” to husband Louis Prima, she’d navigated the tricky waters of a professional and personal divorce, striking out on her own and starting her own record label, Keely Records, in partnership with close friend and mentor Frank Sinatra, under the auspices of his Reprise label. A groundbreaking businesswoman, as well as recording artist, Keely recorded 5 classic albums for Reprise. Because she’d seen enough show business shenanigans to last a lifetime, a generation before it became standard practice to do so, she retained the rights to her masters.

Musician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin's evolution into a star from letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators.

Docudrama about French writer and photographer Carole Achache. Through the power of filmmaking and the help of Marion Cotillard, director Mona Achache brings her mother back to life to retrace her journey and find out who she really was.

You can’t get any more popular in American entertainment than Keely Smith was in the early ‘60s. Having blown the doors out in Las Vegas, winning a Grammy, having hit after hit and lighting up television screens playing straight “man” to husband Louis Prima, she’d navigated the tricky waters of a professional and personal divorce, striking out on her own and starting her own record label, Keely Records, in partnership with close friend and mentor Frank Sinatra, under the auspices of his Reprise label.

Little Girl Blue is an artistic statement by jazz virtuoso Nina Simone that reinvents a wide variety of compositions. Simone's combination of classical training, smoky-alto vocal delivery and the influence of modern jazz make her a novel and inspiring jazz singer and instrumentalist.

Little Girl Blue, released 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.

Little Girl Blue, released in 1957, was Nina Simone's first recording, originally issued on the Bethlehem label.

"Little Girl Blue" is an artistic statement by jazz virtuoso Nina Simone that reinvents a wide variety of compositions. Simone's combination of classical training, smoky-alto vocal delivery and the influence of modern jazz make her a novel and inspiring jazz singer and instrumentalist.