About

Nina Simone in Concert is an album by singer / pianist / songwriter Nina Simone. It was her first album for the record label Philips and was made up of three live recordings in Carnegie Hall, New York City in March and April 1964 (previously, she had recorded Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall in 1963 for Colpix Records).

This album marks the beginning of "Nina Simone, the Civil Rights singer" in her recording career (she had already incorporated the civil rights message in her performances). Included on the album are politically laden songs, most notably the self-written "Mississippi Goddam", released as a single at the time. But also "Old Jim Crow", "Go Limp" and the haunting "Pirate Jenny" contributed to the message in a covert or metaphorical way. – Wiki

“Recorded across three concerts performed at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in March and April 1964, In Concert saw Simone step out as a fearless protest singer at the height of the US Civil Rights movement. She gives fans a chance to settle comfortably with a rendition of one of her most famous songs, the Porgy And Bess centrepiece ‘I Loves You, Porgy’, but Simone quickly establishes her protest credentials with The Threepenny Opera’s ‘Pirate Jenny’ and a take on ‘Old Jim Crow’, be-fore closing with a thunderous rendition of ‘Mississippi Goddam’.” – Universal

“On most of her studio sessions, she worked with orchestration that either enhanced her vocals tastefully or smothered her, and she tackled an astonishingly wide range of material that, while admirably eclectic, made for uneven listening. Here, the singer and pianist is backed by a spare, jazzy quartet, and some of the songs rank among her most socially conscious declarations of African-American pride: "Old Jim Crow," "Pirate Jenny," "Go Limp," and, especially, "Mississippi Goddam" were some of the most forthright musical reflections of the Civil Rights movement to be found at the time.” – AllMusic

Item description: