Nina Simone Blackbird

This reissue combines two of Simone's Colpix albums, Folksy Nina (1964) and Nina with Strings (1966), onto a single CD. Though it was taken from the same performance as 1963's Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall, Folksy Nina duplicates little of the material found on that prior album. It isn't just unworthy leftovers, but a strong set in its own right, concentrating on material that could be seen as traditional or folk in orientation. It's not exactly strictly folk music, in repertoire or arrangement. However, there was an uptempo piano blues (Leadbelly's "Silver City Bound") and covers of the Israeli "Erets Zavat Chalav" and "Vanetihu" which served as further proof that Simone's eclecticism knew no bounds. There are also the kind of stark, moody, spiritually shaded ballads at which she excelled, like "When I Was a Young Girl," "Hush Little Baby," and "Lass of the Low Country," the last of which is as exquisitely sad-yet-beautiful as it gets…

Nina Simone was one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation, and also one of the most eclectic. Simone was a singer, pianist, and songwriter who bent genres to her will rather than allowing herself to be confined by their boundaries; her work swung back and forth between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world music, with passion, emotional honesty, and a strong grasp of technique as the constants of her musical career.

Nina Simone was one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation, and also one of the most eclectic. Simone was a singer, pianist, and songwriter who bent genres to her will rather than allowing herself to be confined by their boundaries; her work swung back and forth between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world music, with passion, emotional honesty, and a strong grasp of technique as the constants of her musical career. Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21, 1933. Her mother, Mary Kate Waymon, was a Methodist minister, and her father, John Divine Waymon…