Blue Indigo Archive

Nina Simone – Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles – BMG

by Audiophile Audition | Feb 6, 2018 | Jazz CD Reviews

Nina Simone’s debut album remastered 60 years later as complete edition… Nina Simone – Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Singles – BMG/Bethlehem 538320261– Mono LP/ 7” 45 rpm single – 1958 – ****: (Nina Simone – piano, vocals; Jimmy Bond – bass; Albert “Tootie” Heath – drums) Nina Simone’s Little Girl Blue album was her debut as a recording artist, recorded in December, 1958, when she was only 24 years old. It was on Bethlehem Records, and her sole issue for that label. Fourteen tracks were recorded on a single day, and the numbers were split between Nina on solo piano, and as a trio, with bassist, Jimmy Bond, and drummer, Albert “Tootie” Heath. Most of the songs were “first takes,” a testament to Simone’s fully developed talent at such a young age. Bethlehem over the years mined the recordings as an eleven track initial issue (Little Girl Blue), and also as seven A/B singles, but this newly remastered edition is the first to include all fourteen compositions in the order recorded, with “Porgy (I Loves You Porgy)” and “Love Me or Leave Me” as a 45 rpm single on the LP edition. There is also a CD version. Nina […]