Very Best of Nina Simone (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook): 1

by Nina Simone

Of all the major singers of the late 20th century, Nina Simone was one of the hardest to label. She recorded extensively in soul, jazz, and pop and was also comfortable with blues, gospel, and Broadway. She has subsequently been labelled as a soul singer in terms of emotion, rather than form. Her repertoire included jazz standards, gospel and spirituals, classical music, folk songs of diverse origin, blues, pop, songs from musicals and opera, African chants as well as her own compositions. Nina Simone Piano Songbook Volume 1 contains authentic piano and vocal transcriptions of 15 of her best-known songs, including Feeling Good, I Put a Spell On You, Sinnerman and My Baby Just Cares For Me, with guitar chord boxes. Ain t Got No, I Got Life My Baby Just Cares For Me Feeling Good I Put A Spell On You I Loves you Porgy Don t Let Me Be Miss Understood The Look Of Love I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl Do I Move You Do What You Gotta Do To Be Young, Gifted and Black Since I Fell For You Nobody s Fault But Mine I Think It s Going to Rain Today Sinnerman Times They Are A Changin Mr Bojangles Here Comes The Sun To Love Somebody

88 pages, Sheet music

First published November 26, 1997

About the author

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone, was a fifteen-time Grammy Award-nominated American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rights activist.

Although she disliked being categorized, Simone is generally classified as a jazz musician. Simone originally aspired to become a classical pianist, but her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles besides her classical basis, such as jazz, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop music. Her vocal style is characterized by intense passion, a loose vibrato, and a slightly androgynous timbre, in part due to her unusually low vocal range which veered between the alto and tenor ranges (occasionally even reaching baritone lows). Sometimes known as the High Priestess of Soul, she paid great attention to the musical expression of emotions. Within one album or concert she could fluctuate between exuberant happiness or tragic melancholy. These fluctuations also characterized her own personality and personal life, worsened by a bipolar disorder with which she was diagnosed in the mid-1960s, but was kept secret until 2004.

Simone recorded over 40 live and studio albums, the biggest body of her work being released between 1958 (when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue) and 1974. Songs she is best known for include "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "I Put a Spell on You", "I Loves You Porgy", "Feeling Good", "Sinner Man", "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", "Strange Fruit", "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" and "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl". Her music and message made a strong and lasting impact on African-American culture, illustrated by the numerous contemporary artists who cite her as an important influence (among them Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Jeff Buckley, and Lauryn Hill), as well as the extensive use of her music on soundtracks and in remixes.