Gifted & Black

Gifted & Black
Studio album by Nina Simone
Released	1970
Recorded	1970
Studio	Van Gelder Studio,
Genre	Vocal jazz, jazz, blues
Length	41:42
Label	Canyon Records
Producer	Hecky Krasnow
Nina Simone chronology
A Very Rare Evening (1959)A Very Rare Evening1959 Gifted & Black (1970) The Best of Nina Simone (1970)The Best of Nina Simone1970

Gifted & Black is the twentieth studio album by jazz singer, pianist and songwriter Nina Simone. It was released on August 25, 1970, by Canyon Records (Hollywood). Gifted & Black incorporates musical styles from funk and soul.

Its eight songs include "Black Is The Colour", "The Thrill Is Gone" and "Porgy".^[1][2]

Background

The earliest existing recordings of the album were made in Philadelphia 1955, the album was not intended for release cause of Simone battle with the RCA label.Other songs on the album were recorded during Simone rehearsals before performing at Nightclubs.^[3][4]

Gifted & Black contained eight songs, original recordings.^[5] The other four are the results of re-mastered songs Simone had recorded in earlier years including "Black Is The Colour", "The Thrill Is Gone" and her first hit "I Loves You, Porgy" (credited as "Porgy").^[6][7]

Although the record was originally not intended for release, Andrew Stroud the manager and then husband of Simone added strings to eight tracks which were arranged by Monk Higgins, released as "Gifted and Black" in 1970.^[8][9]

Critical Reception

Rolling Stone said in a contemporary review: "It's not that this album, recorded around 1967 (?), is misrepresentative of what Nina is currently up to, and does a disservice to an exceptional artist's career. It's not that the strings, which are dubbed over her piano trio are in poor, nay, bad taste. It's not that it sounds as though the recording mikes were placed down the hall from the studio, in the toilet, perhaps. It's not that "The Thrill is Gone" is absolutely the most embarrassing musical miscarriage I've ever heard. No, it's not any of these at all. It's just that this album is pisspoor."^[10] However, although Richard Mortifoglio for AllMusic called the sound "decidedly lo-fi", he also considered it "something of a lost cabaret masterpiece ... as if she was channeling the great cabaret artist Mabel Mercer, reminding us that apart from her deserved reputation as a socially significant African-American artist, Nina Simone was also an outstanding interpreter of the Great American Songbook."^[2]

Tracklist

Credit

• Nina Simone – Arranger, Composer, Primary Artist
• Bennie Benjamin – Composer
• Gloria Caldwell – Composer
• Henry Creamer – Composer
• Richie Havens – Composer
• Fletcher Hendersor – Composer
• Jan Hendin – Composer
• Weldon Irvine – Composer
• Leroy Kirkland – Composer
• Turner Layton – Composer
• Galt MacDermot – Composer
• Sol Marcus – Composer

Reference