Nina Simone - This Is... [Orange & White]

This Is... gathers thirteen of Nina Simone's formative recordings from the late 1950s and early 1960s, pressed on limited 180-gram vinyl in orange and white.

Before she became known as the High Priestess of Soul and one of the defining voices of the civil rights era, Simone was a classically trained pianist working the nightclub circuit, fusing jazz, blues, gospel and classical technique into a style entirely her own. This collection captures that emergence, drawing on the early sessions that first revealed her extraordinary gift.

My Baby Just Cares for Me swings with wit and lightness, a tune that would find a whole new audience decades later. I Loves You, Porgy is achingly tender, and Mood Indigo shows her deft touch with Ellington. Her take on Little Girl Blue sets a familiar standard against a classical counter-melody at the piano, a perfect example of how easily she bridged worlds.

Elsewhere the programme moves between smoky torch songs, earthy blues and hymn-like ballads, with her piano as expressive as her voice and her phrasing always unmistakable, even on the most familiar material.

As an introduction to her early years it is hard to fault, and for longtime admirers the two-tone vinyl makes a striking companion to the original albums.