ProJazz.net

Nina Simone and Her Friends is an album released by the Bethlehem Records label that compiled songs by jazz singers Nina Simone, Carmen McRae and Chris Connor. All three artists had left the label and signed with other companies by the time Bethlehem released this album. The numbers by Simone were previously unissued “left overs” from the recording sessions for her debut album Little Girl Blue (1958) and released without her knowledge. The tracks by Chris Connor and Carmen McRae were already issued together this way as Bethlehem’s Girlfriends in 1956 accompanied by the debut recording session of Julie London. (Wikipedia).

Track listing:

Side A

Nina Simone – “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” (Traditional)
Chris Connor – “Cottage for Sale” (Willard Robison, Larry Conley)
Carmen McRae – “Old Devil Moon” (Burton Lane, E.Y. Harburg)
Nina Simone – “I Loves You, Porgy” (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
Chris Connor – “Try a Little Tenderness” (Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, Harry M. Woods)
Carmen McRae – “You Made Me Care” (Chuck Darwin, Paulette Girard)

Side B

Nina Simone – “For All We Know” (J. Fred Coots, Sam M. Lewis)
Chris Connor – “What Is There to Say?” (Vernon Duke, E. Y. Harburg)
Carmen McRae – “Too Much in Love to Care” (Carmen McRae)
Nina Simone – “African Mailman” (Nina Simone)
Chris Connor – “Good Bye” (Gordon Jenkins)
Carmen McRae – “Last Time for Love” (Carmen McRae)

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Released: 1959
Recorded: New York City, 1957
Remastered: 2018
Label: Bethlehem