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Nina Simone Songs9/16/2020
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully.After Hours, as you could probably guess from the title, focuses on Simones jazz ballads, with 16 tracks from her mid-60s Philips albums.The material is pretty good -- Wild Is the Wind, Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair, I Loves You Porgy, and Van McCoys For Myself are all among her best sides from the period.But Simone was an eclectic who could handle much more than jazzy ballads.
Unless you know for sure that you prefer this facet of her work above all else, the more wide-ranging Verve Jazz Masters 17 is a much better introduction to her mid-60s work. However, this might make a nice supplement for fans who want to dig a little deeper. The only bonus of this collection is an unedited version of Little Girl Blue. So why did filmmaker Cynthia Mort let the star of her critically-derided new biopic on the legend, Zoe Saldana, sing every lyric While Saldana does possess a passable croon, it communicates none of the character, hurt or mystery that made Nina so stellar. Instead of flinching through the film, then, you should spend that time basking in Simones most peerless recordings. Though they mostly found her covering other peoples material, Simones arrangements, informed by her classical training, and her phrasings, drawn from jazz, re-cast the compositions entirely. A few pieces she did write became classics, including Mississippi Goddam and To Be Young, Gifted and Black. But paramount was Simones performance, a mix of fierce inflections and edgy enunciations that eliminated any line between what she felt and what she conveyed. ![]() Her sense of remorse puts redemption crushingly out of reach. No wonder, when Kanye West wanted a sample for his rap Blood on the Leaves, he drew from her take. The way she delivers the refrain you dont know what its like, dares anyone to know the depths of her loneliness. But while his emphasized rejection, her wry reading stresses the delicious revenge delivered in the final verse. She seemed to be singing not just of sexual openness but of personal liberation. But Simones slowed-down take captures both the pain of morality and the enigma of eternity. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
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