| Nina Simone The Lady Has the Blues Tomato—2003 As with Tomato’s other recent Simone reissues, The Best of and the two-disc Tomato Collection, this is a grab bag of live and studio cuts from the formidable vocalist’s lengthy career. Tracks One through Eleven are from an unidentified live date that features Simone and a cooking band as they tear through a handful of tracks from her repertoire; of particular note are a soul-drenched piano ramble through “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl” and a feisty “See Line Woman” on which Simone, who earned a reputation for squabbling with her audiences, pulls the crowd into a lusty call-and-response. |
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The liner notes by John Hadley of Downbeat do a
fine job of summing up the singer’s life and career, but say absolutely
nothing about the music on the disc—who played on it, what year it was
from, and so on. That’s particularly frustrating in regard to the band,
because they’re particularly fine, especially on the stomping “Gin House
Blues.” Lady Has the Blues is rounded out by two studio tracks—“Blue Prelude” and “Spring Is Here,” both cut during Simone’s tenure at Colpix—and what sound like two additional solo live tracks (“Ain’t No Use,” and “Cotton Eyed Joe”) that feature the same murky, mono-ish sound as the earlier concert material. Simone’s performances are consistently on the money, fueled by a well of emotion and fire that few soul and jazz performers of the period could summon; too bad the disc’s presentation doesn’t live up to the material. —Paul Gaita |
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