New Album - Nina Simone - Let It All Out - Selected Singles 1961-1978

My vinyl copy arrived today. Highly recommended and very well done to Kent. Great packaging, astutely chosen tracks, top class sleeve notes by Mr. Rounce and sparkling sound quality. Thank you.

Enjoyed it today on CD

Nina had a steady US audience during the mid 60's, however she managed to 'break out' here in the UK & in Europe. She toured here (& Europe) all the time during the mid to late 60's -- she went from being a singer who all the trend setters spoke of to being a big UK chart hit act. Her concerts over here progressed from small jazz clubs to the biggest music venues in the country.

Her home life was complicated & she hooked up with men who abused / controlled her. In her time with Phillips, she started that rise via 45's / LP's such as "I Put A Spell On You". This commercial hit was followed during her RCA period with 3 x UK top 10 hit 45's, while the 45 of "Spell On You" was reissued & got even higher in the charts here. She was now on TV and almost a household name.

The rise in her stature in the UK enabled her to get booked into the most prestigious of venues. One such being the London Palladium (back then featured every weekend as the home of the top British variety TV show). Her husband ran the couples US record label - Ninandy and this was distributed / taken on by RCA. Nina would sign acts to the label she was connected with (Sam Waymon) or who she saw performing & took a liking to (Montego Joe, the Swordsmen). She'd come across the Swordsmen while doing a gig in Cleveland and added the duo to her entourage. Her UK / European successes led to her getting more attention back in the US too. She'd play gigs in & around the New York area & would have one of the Ninandy acts on to open the show for her.

In 1967, after a set of concerts in Las Vegas she returned to do shows at the Village Gate (NY) with Montego Joe opening for her. By 1968, she also had the Swordsmen opening for her. Black acts / blues men were now getting more attention in certain US circles & in December 1969 Nina played the Fillmore East along with Richie Havens & Isaac Hayes. But just ahead of that, she was touring the UK, where in November she played the London Palladium. As was her norm at that time, she brought over a Ninandy act to open the show for her -- the Swordsmen.

The group had a very small following of their own over here at the time (just a hand full of Brit soulies I'd guess) so were completely unknown to the type of audience that frequented the Palladium. Nina's fans turned up for the show en masse, along with others who knew Nina's hit singles or had seen her on UK TV shows. A top magazine writer was also sent along to review the show. Now, the type of track the Swordsmen made (typical male duo soul) & Nina's stuff were really 'chalk & cheese' when it came to musical styles. Nina always put on a great individually styled performance mixing jazz, blues, soul & pop -- quite unique & a whole lot different from that of a normal soul act. Nina also had her moods & her quirks -- if it was an off-night for her, she'd get upset by something & refuse to go on stage.

That night at the Palladium was such a night. She decided not to start her part of the show on time, which meant the short opening stint by the Swordsmen had to be extended. As Nina toured with her own band & they had been used to backing up the Swordsmen on shows over in the US, the group & her musicians were more than capable of extending their planned 2 / 3 song act to a full 8 / 9 / 10 song performance. And that is what they had to do. HOWEVER, the audience & the reviewer had no idea who these two guys were & had come to see Nina do her stuff. So the review of that night wasn't kind to the pair.

The show that could have heralded an awakening for them with British audiences turned out to be a millstone around their necks -- they'd had to do their full repertoire of songs for completely the wrong audience. If only someone had shipped in the regulars from the Marquee or Flamingo that night, history might have been totally different for the Cleveland based guys. But that didn't happen.