This is one of a few overlapping Nina Simone compilations in my collection. The perennial problem of buying compilations: you find yourself having almost all of the artists' best songs, then you have to buy another one for this or that song, then you have to buy the original albums -even if you already have 80% of the songs- because your record collection isn't complete without them etc. After awhile you end up owning the same songs three or four times and still always missing something. My advice: Buy only one compilation per artist, just the hits. If you like what you hear, slowly start collecting the original albums. Verve Jazz Masters covers a short 3-year period (with one exception) of a decades-long career, but it's full of classic songs. Jazz is, of course, a somewhat restrictive label for Simone, whose music also encompassed folk, blues, gospel, soul and classical music. Classical was actually her first love, as she was a child prodigy pianist. The pride of her community in a Southern U.S. town which raised money to send her to the most illustrious U.S. music school, New York's Juilliard academy of music. Money shortage and racial discrimination shattered her dream of being the first major African-American concert pianist and, despite later successes, this seems to have left her with a permanent bitterness. I remember seeing her perform when I was young, at the Katrakio theatre in my birthplace Nikea and thinking she was too dry and aloof - that, and being impressed by her playing, as I only knew her as a singer. She was then living in Europe, and enjoying a second career boom, sparked by the use of her song "My Baby Just Cares for Me" on a mid-80's TV ad. This is also the only song here not from the 60's - originally recorded in the 50's, it's included here as a live 1987 recording. Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" is also a live version of an early hit, and Rodgers & Hart's "Little Girl Blue" another try at the classic jazz songbook. "Love Me Of Leave Me" starts as playful jazz pop, but it's mostly notable for the amazing classical piano solos. "See-Line Woman" and "Work Song" veer closer to gospel and soul, while there are also slow mournful ballads, from the orchestral "Wild Is The Wind" to the almost renaissance folk "Black Is The Color..." and Billy Holiday's heartbreaking "Strange Fruit", one of many anti-racist songs in Simone's repertoire. She was very active in the Civil Rights movement and her own compositions ("Four Women", "Mississippi Goddamn" are included here) are angrier and more aggressive than most protest songs of the era, while she also inhabits with relish the persona of the vengeful Pirate Jenny, the servant girl who orders the death of her bosses in Brecht's same-named song. Most numbers feature a small jazz band, while in others her voice is complemented by big orchestral arrangements. The latter include "I Hold No Grudge", Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas", and the definitive versions of often-covered classics "I Put a Spell on You" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". Almost every song here is a masterpiece, so it's easy for me to recommend it. The only problem with this CD lies in what isn't here (i.e. "Sinner man", "Feeling Good", " Young Gifted And Black" etc.) but isn't that what always happens with compilations?
***** for Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair, I Put A Spell On You, Love Me Or Leave Me, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
**** for Little Girl Blue, I Loves You Porgy, Ne Me Quitte Pas, Wild Is The Wind, See-Line Woman, Strange Fruit, Pirate Jenny, Four Women, Mississippi Goddamn, I Hold No Grudge
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