Nina Simone - At Carnegie Hall (1963)

Nina Simone was one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation, and also one of the most eclectic. Simone was a singer, pianist, and songwriter who bent genres to her will rather than allowing herself to be confined by their boundaries; her work swung back and forth between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world music, with passion, emotional honesty, and a strong grasp of technique as the constants of her musical career.                

"At Carnegie Hall" is a live album recorded at Simone's first solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York, on April 12, 1963, and was released on Colpix Records. Miss Simone works her particular brand of magic in a mysterious and awe-inspiring way. The album has a broad choice of material all delivered in dramatic fashion. "Black Swan," "Twelfth of Never" are two highly playable tracks.

This was Nina Simone's third Carnegie Hall appearance. Her debut appearance was on May 21, 1961, when she shared the stage with her great friend and fellow civil rights activist Miriam Makeba.
Having performed here twice previously, April 12, 1963, marked Nina Simone's headlining debut. It was not to be an easy transition from sharing to topping the bill. Writing in Nina Simone "Black Is The Color ..." Andrew Stroud - Simone's one-time husband and manager - recalls, "In 1963, Nina was adamant about making a solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in fulfillment of her childhood dream as the first black female classical pianist. None of the concert promoters would undertake such a presentation because they did not believe she could carry off a solo concert. Therefore, when I resigned from the NYPD, I took my pension rebate and, on the advice of experts in the music industry, hired Felix Gerstman, New York City's premier concertmaster, to manage the presentation."
Joining Nina Simone that evening were guitarists Alvin Schackman and Phil Orlando, Lisle Atkinson on bass, and drummer Montego Joe. Simone demonstrated the unclassifiable nature of her artistry that evening with performances of jazz, soul, spiritual-tinged tunes, and - displaying her background in classical music - a theme on Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah.
While her final headlining concert here took place in June 2001, Nina Simone's final Carnegie Hall appearance was on April 13, 2002, as part of Sting's Rainforest Foundation benefit. She died almost exactly a year later.

Tracklist:

A1	Black Swan	6:13
A2	Theme From Samson And Delilah	5:50
A3	If You Knew	3:35
A4	Theme From Sayonara	2:35
B1	The Twelfth Of Never	3:20
B2	Will I Find My Love Today	6:55
B3	The Other Women / Cotton Eyed Joe	7:25

Nina Simone - At Carnegie Hall (1963)
(320 kbps, cover art included)