May 27, 2024
The weather is starting to get warm, which means it's a good time to listen to some blues. Nina Simone is known as a jazz singer, but as she demonstrates this marvelous 2023 live album (which finally made publicly available her legendary performance at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival), she could also sing the blues, as evidenced by her smoldering live rendition of the gutbucket "Blues for Mama," which she wrote with Abbey Lincoln. For best effect, it should be played on a hot afternoon — crank it up, and be sure to remove any flammable material from the vicinity of the speakers so it doesn't burn the house down.
