Little Girl Blue (album)

Little Girl Blue / Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club
Studio album by Nina Simone
Released	16 September 1958
Recorded	New York City, December 1957
Genre	Jazz, gospel, vocal jazz
Length	41:24
Label	Bethlehem
Nina Simone chronology
Little Girl Blue (1958) Nina Simone and Her Friends (1959)Nina Simone and Her Friends1959

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Little Girl Blue (also known as Jazz As Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club) was released by Bethlehem Records and is the debut album by jazz singer, pianist and songwriter Nina Simone. When her debut album was released, Simone was in her mid-20s and still aspiring to be a classical concert pianist. She immediately sold the rights for the songs on this album to Bethlehem for $3,000 (US$25,446 in 2017 dollars^[2]). This deal eventually cost her royalty profits of more than a million dollars.^[3] Simone was dissatisfied by the lack of effort the record company took in promoting her, and after this album she formed a long business relationship with Colpix Records. The album Nina Simone and Her Friends was released after she had left Bethlehem, without her consent, and comprised songs that were left over from the Little Girl Blue recording session. The session was the only one ever recorded for Bethlehem.^[4]

The original 1958 album was released in mono, but a second issue the following year, by Bethlehem Records (SBCP-6028), was stereo.

The album was reissued by Bethlehem in 1992 on CD (Bethlehem 30042), with three additional tracks from the same session: "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", "For All We Know" and "African Mailman".^[5] This format was released again in 2002, as Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club by Charly / Snapper Music (SNAP 216 CD), remastered and with the addition of "My Baby Just Cares for Me (Extended Version)".^[6]

Song information

• "I Loves You, Porgy" is from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. This was the song that started Simone's career. The single became her only Billboard top 20 hit in the United States.
• "Mood Indigo" is also featured on Let It All Out.
• "Love Me or Leave Me" is also featured on the soundtrack of Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998) and Let It All Out. The song is also famous for the middle instrumental section in the style of a Bach Invention.
• "Plain Gold Ring" was later covered by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, White Magic^[7] and New Zealand singer Kimbra.
• "My Baby Just Cares for Me" was Simone's biggest hit. It was one of the last songs she recorded during the session, because the record label wanted an uptempo song to finish with. The fairly obscure song became a hit when it was re-released in 1987, after it had featured in a UK commercial for the Chanel No. 5 perfume. It helped the almost forgotten Simone back into the limelight.
• "Central Park Blues" was created and recorded in a single take. The record company needed another song, so Simone drew inspiration from a photo shoot earlier in the day at Central Park.
• "Little Girl Blue" is a modern example of a quodlibet. In this case Simone combined the Rodgers and Hart melody and lyrics with the melody of the popular carol "Good King Wenceslas".
• "Don't Smoke in Bed" is a jazz song written and originally recorded by Willard Robison.^[8]

Track listing

1. "Mood Indigo" – (Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, Irving Mills)
2. "Don't Smoke in Bed" – (Willard Robison)
3. "He Needs Me" – (Arthur Hamilton)
4. "Little Girl Blue" – (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
5. "Love Me or Leave Me" – (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn)
6. "My Baby Just Cares for Me" – (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn)
7. "Good Bait" (instrumental) – (Count Basie, Tadd Dameron)
8. "Plain Gold Ring" – (George Stone (aka Earl Burroughs))
9. "You'll Never Walk Alone" (instrumental) – (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)
10. "I Loves You, Porgy" – (DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
11. "Central Park Blues" (instrumental) – (Nina Simone)

Personnel

• Nina Simone – vocals, piano, arrangements
• Jimmy Bond – double bass
• Albert "Tootie" Heath – drums
• Joseph Muranyi – liner notes

References