The Nina Simone Collection

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…

Nina Simone was one of the most moving, inspirational performers in the history of popular music. Here we present all the tracks from her debut album along with some incendiary live performances that give a glimpse of the force of nature that typified this remarkable artist. From love songs and ballads, through Jazz and Blues, to classics and roots, this set features some of her finest songs, with an introduction and detailed notes on the tracks featured.

The Nina Simone entry in Universal Music's discount-priced best-of series 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection draws nine tracks from Simone's popular Philips Records albums of the mid-'60s, plus two tracks from her live album Let It Be Me, released by Verve Records in 1987. Several of Simone's most frequent concert selections and signature songs are included, among them a live take of "I Loves You Porgy," "Mississippi Goddam," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," and "The Other Woman." With a running time under 40 minutes and limited to only two of the labels for which Simone recorded, this is hardly a comprehensive compilation of her work. But it is a reasonable sampler at a reasonable price.

Nina Simone was a singular artist, and she went where she pleased, leaving behind a recorded legacy that is passionate, political, defiant, and delicate by turns, no matter what strain of folk, blues, jazz, or gospel she was dipping into, and she did it all with dignity, grace, and intelligence…

Nina Simone was a singular artist, and she went where she pleased, leaving behind a recorded legacy that is passionate, political, defiant, and delicate by turns, no matter what strain of folk, blues, jazz, or gospel she was dipping into, and she did it all with dignity, grace, and intelligence. This set collects all nine of her albums for RCA Records (released between 1967 and 1974), and thus includes some of her greatest recordings. Signature songs like "I Loves You, Porgy," "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" (in a couple of versions), and "Mississippi Goddam" (a Simone original - one wishes she had written more than she did) are all here, along with powerful versions of songs by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Willie Dixon, the Beatles, and Randy Newman, among others. Simone didn't just sing a song. She made it hers.