You've Got To Learn (Live) (Mono Remastered) Nina Simone

• 1 You’ve Got To Learn (Live) 07:03
• 2 I Loves You Porgy (Live) 04:02
• 3 Introduction To Blues For Mama (Live) 00:41
• 4 Blues For Mama (Live) 04:44
• 5 Be My Husband (Live) 04:05
• 6 Mississippi Goddam (Live) 06:50
• 7 Music For Lovers (Live) 05:29
• Total Runtime 32:54

Info for You've Got To Learn (Live) (Mono Remastered)

Die “High Priestess of Soul” in Höchstform – Nina Simone live beim Newport Jazz Festival.

Das Album “You’ve Got To Learn” enthält nie zuvor veröffentlichte Live-Aufnahmen von Nina Simone und ihrem Quartett, die 1966 beim Newport Jazz Festival aufgezeichnet wurden.

“Das Newport Jazz Festival hatte in Nina Simone schon immer das Beste zum Vorschein gebracht”, schreibt die Musikwissenschaftlerin Shana L. Redmond, die u. a. an der UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music lehrt, in ihrem Begleittext zu “You’ve Got To Learn”. Das Album, das jetzt zu Ehren von Ninas 90. Geburtstag als HiRes ReMaster veröffentlicht wird, enthält eine bislang unveröffentlichte Live-Aufnahme der legendären Sängerin, Pianistin, Songschreiberin und Bürgerrechtsaktivistin. Als Nina Simone am 2. Juli 1966 mit ihrem Quartett die berühmte Bühne des Newport Jazz Festival betrat, bot sie dem Publikum in einem nur etwas mehr als halbstündigen Set die ganze Bandbreite ihres Könnens.

Fließend wechselt sie von Jazz über Spirituals und Gospel zu Blues und Soul, kontrastiert aufwühlende (sozial)politische Songs mit zarten Liebesballaden und eigene Kompositionen mit Material von George und Ira Gershwin, Charles Aznavour, Bart Howard und ihrem damaligen Ehemann Andy Stroud.

Unfehlbar zur Seite stehen Nina dabei ihre bestens eingespielten Begleiter Rudy Stevenson (Gitarre), Lisle Atkinson (Bass) und Bobby Hamilton (Schlagzeug). Mit ihnen hatte sie in den zwei vorangegangenen Jahren für ihr Label Philips schon die Albumklassiker “Nina Simone in Concert”, “Broadway-Blues-Ballads”, “I Put A Spell On You”, “Pastel Blues”, “Let It All Out” und “Wild Is The Wind” aufgenommen.

Den Auftakt macht Nina hier mit dem Titelsong “You’ve Got To Learn”, der eine englischsprachige Adaption von Charles Aznavours Chanson “Il Faut Savoir” ist. Dann wechselt sie mit “I Loves You, Porgy” (aus der Gershwin-Oper “Porgy And Bess”) zu einem ihrer größten Hits, bevor sie dem Publikum mit “Blues For Mama (Hey Lawdy Mama)” eine eigene neue Nummer vorstellt, zu der ihre Kollegin und Freundin Abbey Lincoln den Text beigesteuert hatte. Den von ihrem Ehemann geschriebenen Song “Be My Husband” trägt Nina danach, nur von der scheppernden Hi-Hat und dem Fußstampfen ihres Schlagzeugers Bobby Hamilton begleitet, in der Art und Weise eines Worksongs (field holler) vor. Dann folgt mit “Mississippi Goddam” einer ihrer ikonischsten Songs, der in seiner Brisanz wohl nur mit Billie Holidays “Strange Fruit” vergleichbar ist. Nach einer stehenden Ovation beendet sie ihr Programm schließlich mit einem versöhnlichen Stück: Bart Howards “Music For Lovers”. Dabei ergreift sie die Gelegenheit, in ihrem Vortrag kurz ihre klassische Klavierschulung aufblitzen zu lassen.

"Diese erstmals veröffentlichten Aufnahmen von “You’ve Got To Learn” machen einmal mehr deutlich, warum es ein so einmaliges Erlebnis war, Nina Simone auf der Bühne zu erleben. “Auf ‘You’ve Got To Learn’ erleben wir eine der bedeutendsten Künstlerinnen aller Zeiten auf dem absoluten Höhepunkt ihrer Kreativität und Schaffenskraft – von einem solchen Ereignis kann es gar nicht genug Livemitschnitte geben.” (Jazzthetik)

Nina Simone, Klavier, Gesang

Digitally remastered

Nina Simone
Nina Simone (1933-2003) holds a unique place amongst the great jazz performers of all time. What sets her apart from other jazz masters is not only her captivating and sultry voice and skillful command of the piano, but her aptitude in almost every genre of music there is. She has taken soul, jazz, and pop to new levels, as well as proving herself in blues, gospel, Broadway, folk, classical, and opera. She also performed and recorded many of her own compositions.

Born Eunice Waymon in North Carolina, Simone grew up in a family with eight children. She started out as a classical pianist, but in 1954 the financial necessity of her family led her to take a job in an Atlantic City nightclub. After auditioning for the gig, the owner told her that she could have it, but only if she agreed to sing as well. Thus, Nina ("little one") Simone (French actress Simone Signoret), was born.

In the late 1950s, Simone began recording on a small label, Bethlehem Records. In 1959, she had a Top 20 hit. "I Loves You Porgy," a song from George Gershwin’s musical "Porgy and Bess." This was the only song that Simone recorded in her entire career that made the Top 40. Hits were not a big concern, however. Simone did just fine performing in nightclubs and making albums, most of them live recordings. She recorded nine albums in the early 1960s alone.

In the mid-‘60s, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Simone composed several songs, including "Old Jim Crow" and "Mississippi Goddam" which were issued on her first album with Philips (Nina Simone in Concert). "Mississippi Goddam" was written in response to the death of four black children in a church bombing, in 1963. It was her protest songs that best demonstrated Simone’s amazing ability to communicate, deeply and clearly, human emotion, especially those of Black people in the U.S.A. It was around this time that people began referring to Simone as the "High Priestess of Soul," after she put out an album of the same name. Along with her original songs, Simone chose some diverse covers. Songs like Weill–Brecht’s "Pirate Jenny," "I Put a Spell on You," and "See Line Woman," were among some of the others that Simone transformed into classics. Her experimentation with timing, her use of silence, her low and intense vocals, her impeccable piano playing capabilities, and her inimitable live act, turned every song she sang into a fresh and magnificent Nina Simone creation. In the late 60s and early 70s, Nina was recording for RCA. An original song, "Young, Gifted & Black" was considered somewhat of a Black national anthem of the time. This song, inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s play of the same title, was has since been covered by Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway. During this brief period of time, Simone was remarkably prolific, releasing nine albums. Despite the quantity and quality of her product, Simone was not particularly well served by RCA.

Later in the decade, Simone’s personal life began to see some trouble. She divorced her husband and manager, Andy Stroud, and became disillusioned by the record industry when she found herself in financial trouble after all the effort she had put forth. Disgusted with show business, as well as with racism in the U.S.A., Simone moved to Barbados in 1974. In the years to come she lived in Liberia, Switzerland, Paris, the Netherlands, and the South of France. The frequency of her recordings slowed significantly after she left RCA, but in 1978, Simone released Baltimore, for the label CTI, which contained the definitive version of Judy Collins’s "My Father." Since then Simone has recorded several albums, most recently "A Single Woman," a studio album released in 1993. She has written her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, received an Honorary Doctorate in Music and Humanities, and has continued to perform at festivals and events around the world.

Despite her self imposed exile and her obvious outspoken lack of appreciation for the recording industry, Nina Simone is a legend of incalculable magnitude. Still today she is able to arouse new and young listeners, as well as hold the attention of life-long devoted fans. Nina Simone has burned her soulful, musical wonders on the psyche of jazz lovers everywhere, and has inspired love and compassion in places seemingly bereft of such trying emotions. Rachel F. Newman (Source: Verve Music Group)

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