When
Nina Simone released her first recordings for
Bethlehem Records in 1958, she sounded strikingly accomplished both as a singer and a pianist, displaying the skill and the inspiration of a seasoned veteran. However, her
Bethlehem sides only captured one aspect of her musical personality, and as even the most cursory examination of
Simone's career makes clear, she was an artist who stubbornly refused to be pigeonholed. After
Simone learned her first lesson about the vagaries of the music business when her deal with
Bethlehem went sour, she signed with the
Colpix label, where she recorded from 1959 to 1964, a time when jazz artists still made occasional appearances on the pop charts.
The Colpix Singles is a collection that brings together the monophonic 45-rpm mixes of the 14 7"s released during
Simone's tenure with the label, and it makes for a reasonably thorough overview of her work for
Colpix.
Simone's
Bethlehem sides were recorded simply with a small rhythm section, but at
Colpix she had the resources for more polished production and significantly more elaborate arrangements, some of which honor her jazz and blues influences, while others sound like clear efforts to introduce her to a mainstream pop audience. Whatever the surroundings,
Simone never sounds like anything other than herself; her voice is strong and confident, her phrasing brings out the many moods and meanings of these songs, and her piano work is virtuosic without calling undue attention to itself. Even when the backings sound treacly,
Simone rarely makes an emotionally false move.
Simone also cut four live albums for
Colpix, and the samples of her concert performances are outstanding; the live tracks capture
Simone in her element and in the moment, and preserve her brilliance in simple but mesmerizing form. Completists will be happy to know that seven of these songs appear in single edits and mixes that have never before appeared in digital format, and the remastering is clean and well executed.
The Colpix Singles covers a time when
Simone was still exploring the boundaries of her creative approach, and not long before activism became a key part of her music and her life; this is far from a definitive sampling of this period, but it does make clear just how fruitful it was. ~ Mark Deming
