Little Girl Blue

by

Nina Simone

Edit

If you're checking this out- Good! You've got taste, obviously, or you wouldn't be here. Pick Up a used copy of this little sweetheart- you won't be let down!

For me, the original record, "Jazz As Played In An Exclusive Side Street Club" (US, 1958, BETHLEHEM BCP 6028), was one of those vinyl finds that diggers hope for but RARELY ever get. After a couple hours of grimy fingered flipping through some stacks of old Gospel records in this rundown flea-market in Hinton, WV- I unearthed the title above. Old as hell and grimy, some rain damage- but still... made my week!

That record consisted of the following tracks: "Mood Indigo," "Don't Smoke In Bed," "He Needs Me," "Little Girl Blue," "Love Me Or Leave Me," "My Baby Just Cares For Me," Good Bait" (a nice long tempestuous instrumental), "Plain Gold Ring," "You'll Never Walk Alone" (another great instrumental), "I Loves You Porgy," and "Central Park Blues" (a nice pensive instrumental). The versions of I loves you Porgy was the tune that got her signed. Little Girl Blue gets her standard 'Good King Wenceslaws' treatment- that fusion blew me away the first time I heard it! He Needs Me is a sweet sad, poignant short little tune!

Soooooooo... this CD is the Import version of that first album by Nina, plus the second (which was "Nina Simone And Her Friends" (US, 1959, BETHLEHEM BCP 6041: only four tracks: "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands," "I Loves You Porgy" (reprise from the previous album), "For All We Know," and another instrumental- "African Mailman.")). The sound is cleaned up a little. No remastering but the sound was pretty good to begin with. Whoever NEON is- they added four pretty rollicking live tracks at the end to flesh this out. The live tracks are B+, A- quality. I'm not sure where they come from- what show...

I love the style of Nina's piano playing and her original takes on arrangements. That's another reason to get this- her piano playing isn't hampered/over encumbered by a loud band.... Her classical training is showcased all over this! Nina was an imaginative player and this is perhaps the best demonstration of her incredible talent as a pianist (she trained at Juilliard in the 50's to be a classical pianist, if ya didn't know), she rises to the occasion and takes the weight, deftly. This is before she had legions of backup players aiding her- Sometimes it's just a young Nina, her piano and a drum or bass. Excellent! The stripped down atmosphere really suited her!

My only beef with this is that whoever put it out (Neon?) messed with the original track listing. They mixed songs from the two releases together- not that you'd know if you'd never have heard the original. The vinyl was well put together in terms of how the tracks flowed into each other. Here: there's no real continuity, thematically or stylewise. But once you get this you can play with it to your heart's content- on your PC, IPOD or whathaveyou...

Honestly- you can't go wrong with this CD and you definitely can't go wrong with Nina, may her soul rest in peace.

Amazon claims that this Fuel 2000 edition of Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club, aka Little Girl Blue, the essential debut album by Nina Simone, is remastered -- but I beg to differ. I'd heard a better sounding version of these songs from a different CD, and I bought this edition thinking it was the one I was looking for. However, the sound quality is pretty terrible. It's not the worst I have heard, but it really doesn't do justice to Nina's beautiful voice and her piano playing, both of which should envelope the listener and not let go until the album is finished. I sold the Fuel CD and purchased the 2004 import CD by Snapper, offered here: Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club. It is slightly more expensive, but it was remastered from the original session tapes (and sounds like it). You can get it from the marketplace for much cheaper than the list price, so I highly recommend that you skip buying this edition and get the Snapper one instead.

As for the album itself, I shouldn't have to say anything about it to convince you to buy a copy, but I will say this: It is perhaps the most perfect, mind-blowing album I have ever heard in my life.