features in: Album Chart of 1962 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s |
Recorded live in April 1961 at the Village Gate, New York. As Nina warms up in the opening bars of “Just in Time”, it strikes me that she really was a slightly mad ol’ bird. She’s in a world of her own with all that grunting and moaning. Alternatively, it might just be that she was actually hyper-intelligent. It was a sure-fire way to get everyone to shut up, sit up straight, and PAY ATTENTION. It’s quite a common trick in her live sets – and it seems to work. I always wonder if the inevitable first round of enthusiastic applause is based on respect or terror. Best on Side 1 is an extremely moody reading of “House Of The Rising Sun” which goes down well with both the audience and myself. Alas, it’s followed by a somewhat hellish hard-bop rendition of “Bye Bye Blackbird”. Such are the trials and tribulations of a Nina Simone album for an anti-jassist. Opening up Side 2, the piano-vocal piece “Brown Baby” is right-on but amazingly boring. Be better off with a pamphlet in my opinion. MUCH better is “Zungo” as Nina directly revels in her African roots; I’m crying out for more this level of exotica but I know I’m not going to get it. “Children Go Where I Send You”, which got its first outing in 1959 on “The Amazing Nina Simone”, gets a reworking to close the LP, as Nina tries to whip ‘em up into a frenzied state. “You ever been to revival meetings? I bet you don’t even know what I’m talking about.” she mocks. “Well, you’re in one right now” Nina’s behaviour and patter is always a mini-highlight in its own right : – ) Overall, this set is pretty good in places, but it leaves me cold more often than not…
The Jukebox Rebel
25–Aug–2009
Tracklist |
A1 | [06:15] Nina Simone - Just In Time [live ny ’61] (Jule Styne, Adolph Green, Betty Comden) Jazz |
A2 | [04:58] Nina Simone - He Was Too Good To Me [live ny ’61] (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) Moodcore |
A3 | [04:34] Nina Simone - House Of The Rising Sun [live ny ’61] (Traditional) Songwriter |
A4 | [08:26] Nina Simone - Bye Bye Blackbird [live ny ’61] (Ray Henderson, Mort Dixon) Jazz |
B1 | [05:50] Nina Simone - Brown Baby [live ny ’61] (Oscar Brown Jr.) Songwriter |
B2 | [02:53] Nina Simone - Zungo [live ny ’61] (Michael Olatunji) Africana |
B3 | [04:04] Nina Simone - If He Changed My Name [live ny ’61] (Robert MacGimsey) Moodcore |
B4 | [07:56] Nina Simone - Children Go Where I Send You [live ny ’61] (Traditional) Soul |