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Nina Simone Sings The Blues
''Sings the Blues'' is an album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone. This was Simone's first album for RCA Victor after previously recording for Colpix Records and Philips Records. The album was also reissued in 2006 with bonus tracks, and reissued in 1991 by RCA/Novus as a 17-track compilation under the title ''The Blues''. Song information * "My Man's Gone Now," from the opera Porgy & Bess by George Gershwin. * "Backlash Blues," one of Simone's civil rights songs. The lyrics were written by her friend and poet Langston Hughes. * "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," based on a song by Simone's great example, Bessie Smith, but with somewhat different lyrics. * "The House of the Rising Sun" was previously recorded live by Simone in 1962 on ''Nina at the Village Gate.'' After its cover by The Animals became a hit, she recorded it in studio. The fast-paced version on this album is very different from the slow, intimate version on ''Nina at the Village Gate.'' Track listing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Simone
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.. The sixth of eight children born into a respected family in North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a local fund set up in her hometown, she enrolled at Allen High School for Girls, then spent a summer at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, preparing to apply for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She failed to gain admission to Curtis,Liz Garbus, 2015 documentary film, '' What Happened, Miss Simone?'' which she attributed to racism, though staff have pointed out th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encyclopedia Of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Knowledge'', Christmas edition, 22 December 2007 – 4 January 2008. It is published by the Oxford University Press and was described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". History of the encyclopedia Larkin believed that rock music and popular music were at least as significant historically as classical music, and as such, should be given definitive treatment and properly documented. ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is the result. In 1989, Larkin sold his half of the publishing company Scorpion Books to finance his ambition to publish an encyclopedia of popular music. Aided by a team of initially 70 contributors, he set about compiling the data in a pre-internet age, "relying instead on information ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lil Green
Lil Green (probably born Lillie May Johnson; December 22, 1901 (some sources give 1905, 1910 or 1919) – April 14, 1954) was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter. She was among the leading female rhythm and blues singers of the 1940s, with a sensual soprano voice. Gospel singer R.H. Harris lauded her voice, and her interpretation of religious songs. Life and career Originally named Lillian Green or Lillie May Johnson, she was born in Mississippi. After the early deaths of her parents, she began performing in her teens and, having honed her craft in the church performing gospel, she sang in Mississippi jukes, before heading to Chicago, Illinois, in 1929, where she would make all of her recordings. Green was noted for superb timing and a distinctively sinuous voice. In the 1930s, she and Big Bill Broonzy had a nightclub act together. In 1940, she recorded her first session for the Bluebird budget subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Her two biggest hits were he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Animals
The Animals, currently billed as Eric Burdon & the Animals (featuring original frontman Eric Burdon) and also as Animals & Friends (featuring original drummer John Steel (drummer), John Steel), are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1962. The Animals' original lineup consisted of frontman Eric Burdon, guitarist Hilton Valentine, bass guitarist Chas Chandler, keyboardist Alan Price, and drummer John Steel. Known for their gritty, bluesy sound, they balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm-and-blues-oriented album material, and were part of the British Invasion of the US. The Animals rose to prominence with their signature song and transatlantic number-one hit single "The House of the Rising Sun#The Animals' version, The House of the Rising Sun", and continued this success with hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life (The Animals song), It's My Life", "Don't Bring Me Down (The Animals song), Don't Bring Me Down", " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina At The Village Gate
''Nina Simone at the Village Gate'' is a live album by singer Nina Simone. Released in early 1962, it was her third live album for Colpix Records, Colpix (and sixth album overall). The album was recorded at The Village Gate, a nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York City, New York in late March 1961, nearly a year before it saw release. The recording was made by Richard Alderson (record producer), Richard Alderson, who at the time was the sound engineer at the Village Gate. The original release featured eight of the twelve songs performed at the gig. In 2005, an extended version of the album was released with the four remaining tracks. Background It is particularly notable for the number of folk songs and African related songs on the album early in Simone's career. Richard Pryor had one of his first nights as a comedian opening for her.Simone about Pryor's first night: “He shook like he had malaria, he was so nervous. I couldn't bear to watch him shiver, so I put my arms ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The House Of The Rising Sun
"The House of the Rising Sun" is an American traditional folk music, folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the British rock band The Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and in the US and Canada. As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the "first folk rock hit". The song was first collected in Appalachia in the 1930s, but probably has its roots in English folk music, traditional English folk song. It is listed as List of folk songs by Roud number, number 6393 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Origin and early versions Origin Like many folk songs, "The House of the Rising Sun" is of uncertain authorship. Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of Broadside ballad#Broadside ballads, broadside b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith was young when her parents died, and she and her six siblings survived by performing on street corners. She began touring and performed in a group that included Ma Rainey, and then went out on her own. Her successful recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923, but her performing career was cut short by a car crash that killed her at the age of 45. Biography Early life The 1900 census indicates that her family reported that Bessie Smith was bor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Growing up in the Midwest, Hughes became a prolific writer at an early age. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He studied at Columbia University in New York City. Although he dropped out, he gained notice from New York publishers, first in '' The Crisis'' magazine and then from book publishers, subsequently becoming known in the Harlem creative community. His first poetry collection, ''The Weary Blues'', was published in 1926. Hughes eventually graduated from Lincoln University. In addition to poetry, Hughes wrote plays and published short story collections, novels, and several nonfiction works. From 1942 to 1962, as the civil rights movement gained traction, Hughes wrote an in-depth week ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civil Rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of society and the State (polity), state. Civil rights generally include ensuring peoples' physical and mental integrity, right to life, life, and safety, protection from discrimination, the right to privacy, the freedom of freedom of thought, thought, freedom of speech, speech, freedom of religion, religion, freedom of the press, press, freedom of assembly, assembly, and freedom of movement, movement. Political rights include natural justice (procedural fairness) in law, such as the rights of the accused, including the right to a fair trial; due process; the right to seek redress or a legal remedy; and rights of Participation (decision making), participation in civil society and politics such as freedom of association, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swanee (song), Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the orchestral compositions ''Rhapsody in Blue'' (1924) and ''An American in Paris'' (1928), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930) and the opera ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935), which included the hit "Summertime (George Gershwin song), Summertime". His ''Of Thee I Sing'' (1931) was the first musical theater, musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris, intending to study with Nadia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porgy & Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' ( ) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel '' Porgy''. ''Porgy and Bess'' was first performed in Boston on September 30, 1935, before it moved to Broadway in New York City. It featured a cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring artistic choice at the time. A 1976 Houston Grand Opera production gained it a renewed popularity, and it is now one of the best known and most frequently performed operas. The libretto of ''Porgy and Bess'' tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black street beggar living in the slums of Charleston. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, her drug dealer. The opera plot generally follows the stage play. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novus Records
Novus Records (later Arista Novus and RCA Novus) was an American jazz record label run by Steve Backer. Backer worked at Impulse! Records until 1974, when Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, asked him to oversee the jazz division at Arista. Backer left Arista in the early 1980s, worked for Windham Hill Records, and then went to RCA to run Novus. Novus's roster included Muhal Richard Abrams, Warren Bernhardt, Steve Coleman, Larry Coryell, Oliver Lake, Steve Lacy, James Moody, Hilton Ruiz, and Henry Threadgill. Beginning in 1989, Backer signed Marcus Roberts, Roy Hargrove, Danilo Pérez, Antonio Hart, and Christopher Hollyday. The label closed in the mid-1990s. The catalogue is now managed by Sony Masterworks through its Masterworks Jazz imprint. Discography 3000-N (RCA) series *3000: Muhal Richard Abrams – '' Lifea Blinec'' *3001: Warren Bernhardt – ''Solo Piano'' *3002: Air – '' Open Air Suit'' *3003: Oliver Lake – ''Life Dance of Is'' *3004: Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
