Music: Nina Simone at Town Hall

Hi!

Most articles so far have been about amps, circuits and technical stuff. It's time to write about some Music!

This is one of my most favorite recordings. Nina Simone live at Town Hall, recorded in New York 1959. Published under the Colpix label. It might not be the most audiophile recording, in fact some parts of the record have some strange artifacts, especially the applause from the audience sounds really weird, also there are some passages during which Nina's voice is a bit distorted. What is captured extremely well on this record is the ambience and atmosphere. All of Nina Simone's emotions and mood during the performance are so present, it is unbelievable.

But most important the music itself, which let's you forget about all technical aspects. My favorite piece on the record is Gershwin's Summer Time. This has two parts which seemlessly merge into each other. It starts very quietly with an instrumental version.

Nina starts with a very soft and gentle piano performance. You can practically feel the impact this has on the audience. The piece slowly picks up and Nina starts humming away the melody and finally starts to sing.

There are also many of Nina's classic songs on this record like 'The other Woman' or 'Black is the color of my true love's hair'.

I like most of her records, but this one is my all time favorite Nina Simone performance. Heard it many times already and never get tired of it.

Played on the right system this record will put you in a time machine and bring you there as if you would have been at the concert.

Best regards

Thomas