The Best of Nina Simone

Nina Simone has been a favorite of mine since the '60's. I've loved her voice, her ability to make each song her own and admired her courage to stand up for herself and others. But as I no longer have a stereo to play my vinyl, I am slowly adding CDs of my favorites artists, including my latest addition, the Best of Nina Simone. While I have each of these in some form or another on one album or another, this is a nice complilation of her music, including some nice live recordings. Don't say she is a Jazz Musician, she was so much more than that, rather, I think of her as a Jazzy singer, or maybe a Bluesy singer, or wait, Broadway...pop...folk...gospel...Well hopefully you get the idea. What she was, and continues to be through her recordings, is a spot on, Great Singer. Her best recordings are still on vinyl, but rather than missing out on Nina, buy the CD, sit back and wonder at her power and her voice.

Mellow, quality was clean and clear. Reflection of the music when I first heard it.

Great mix of tunes, including the nearly 10 minute live version of "Sinnerman". And a very "sweet" (if a song by Nina can be called sweet!) version of Jaques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte de Pas." Great purchase!

Again I'm going to be a sole dissenting voice amidst a chorus of adulators. I purchased this album for all the wrong reasons - because the music of Nina Simone evokes memories of a good time / place in my life and of the people who were important to me there-at, one of whom being a young woman who absolutely needed her daily fix of Ms. Simone. With several albums at her disposal needless to say I heard plenty of Nina. However, as far as the music is concerned, I had never been much of a fan and I remain equally noncommittal. The bulk of my music collection consists of classical and jazz. Now most critics dote on her early training in classical and her placement firmly in the jazz genre. I don't hear it. In fact I find her music to be unsophisticated, even crude. They cite her early devotion to JS Bach yet even on the piano work of her ballads I hear simplistic block chords, none of the arpeggiation that many classically trained jazz and rock musicians have incorporated into their work. (Evans, MJQ, Jacques Loussier, Jarrett, Keith Emerson to name just a few) I can't place Nina Simone amongst my jazz albums, she simply does not belong. I have her within a general selection of vocalists. Certainly in good company - with Rankin, Rawls and Ronstadt on one side and Sinatra, Torme on the other. Now - of course there is the raging emotional and political aspect of her works and these of course render them into the category of important social commentary. This I would never think of denying and what's more earns her my 4 star rating. Art has often been made from and for the purposes of promulgating one's purposes, but has it ever transcended it's time and place to achieve greatness? Beethoven's Eroica certainly comes to mind, perhaps Prokofiev and Shostakovitch under the Communists, some of the anti Vietnam war music from the same era (Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, even Dylan - although he denies it, Country Joe and the Fish, etc.) but otherwise much of it remains stuck in the polemical. The sheer angry intensity of Nina Simone's music saves it from that, but even there - what has turned more hearts towards civil rights: Mississippi Goddam or Tom Lehrers' National Brotherhood Week, or Pete Seeger's Terry Roberts for that matter? In places the music of Nina Simone is certainly compelling but I will never be able to look upon it as a personification of greatness in art and that's what my life-long collecting of music has been all about. Here, I just made a little exception.....for old time's sake.

Wonderful music! She was an amazing artist. Also reflects the time when she performed vividly. First track was hard to hear, but the rest of the album's sound was better

What an incredible compilation of the very best that Nina has to offer. The emotional range and sense of humor presented on this CD make the listener feel as if she/he were at one of Nina's concerts-one can almost smell the cigarettes and whiskey being enjoyed by the audience. She is a true Diva in the very best sense of the word. All songs are amazing and provide the listener with a great building block or addition to one's Nina Simone education.

This is an awesome CD from an incredible vocalist. I bet I'll wear it out! She can sing anything, and she puts such soul, pain, joy and happiness in everything she she sings. I highly recommend!

I love this artist