Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue

200g Vinyl Mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound! Pressed at Quality Record Pressings!

Eunice Kathleen Waymon recorded more than 40 albums over a long, distinguished career that stretched for five decades. As Nina Simone, her distinctive mellifluous voice honed a career catagorized variously as a jazz singer, soul singer and folk artist; she was all of these — and more. Little Girl Blue was Nina Simone's debut release. Bethlehem founder Gus Wildi, taken with the uniquely beautiful quality of her voice, gave her complete control over song selection, backing musicians, arrangements and production of the recording.

For this new Analogue Productions reissue of Little Girl Blue, they've upped the ante. A single pocket jacket to suffice? No. They've done the lady right with a heavy Stoughton Printing tip-on gatefold jacket featuring gorgeous color photos of Nina from a glamorous stage performance. And the peerless mastering by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound in New York sounds incredible. Then top it off with 200-gram Quality Record Pressings vinyl that is unsurpassingly silent and gives incredibly rich playback.

As the liner notes say, there are plenty of musical singers who vocalize well and have an individual style but who never cross that thin and hard-to-define line that separates a good "pop" style from one that is jazz. The first few notes of this record will immediately confirm Nina's jazz credentials. As she said, "You got to get to people." That she does with a vibrant and husky contralto that tonally sounds like a blend of an unlikely combination of Marian Anderson and Ma Rainey.

For Little Girl Blue, Nina and her rhythm section recorded the entire album plus three additional tracks in just one session. In her biography of Nina, Nadine Cohodas recounts engineer Irv Greeenbaum's recollection of that day: "Nothing like Nina's artistry had ever happened before ... Her voice and the keyboard playing were so rich and interesting that they could have stood alone."

Little Girl Blue documents Nina Simone's unparalleled and idiosyncratic musical persona at a particularly vibrant, formative stage, and helped launch her on a trajectory with more than its share of personal and professional trials and triumphs.

"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." -Thom Jurek, allmusic.com

Features:
• 200g Vinyl
• Mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• Stoughton Printing old-style gatefold jacket with beautiful added photos
• Meticulous test pressing evaluation and quality control
• Highest-quality jackets and rice paper inner sleeves

Musicians:
Nina Simone, vocals, piano
Jimmy Bond, bass
Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums

Selections:
Side A:
1. Mood Indigo
2. Don't Smoke In Bed
3. He Needs Me
4. Little Girl Blue
5. Love Me Or Leave Me
6. My Baby Just Cares For Me
Side B:
1. Good Bait
2. Plain Gold Ring
3. You'll Never Walk Alone
4. Porgy
5. Central Park Blues