Nina Simone - Feeling good

"Feeling Good" sung by Nina Simone is a typical summer song for me. Don't ask me why, it just is.

Do you have any song that you associate with summer or another season?

What do you think of Nina Simone singing Feeling good? Please comment.

My Baby Just Cares For Me

If you think of the song "My Baby Just Cares For Me", you'll most likely associate it with singer och pianist Nina Simone. Her version of the song has made such an impression that many people think it was her composition. But in fact the music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn in 1930. They also wrote another song that Nina Simone used to perform: Love Me Or Leave Me.

Here is a video clip with the group Cotton Club Singers that has made a version of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" that stays close to Nina Simone's version but they have added some harmony singing.



I really like the "jazz club feeling" in how this video is shot. The group is from Hungary, learn more about the Cotton Club Singers at their website.

Also interesting (maybe more) is what the song sounded like by contemporary bands in the 1930's. Here is a sound clip with "My Baby Just Cares For Me" with Harry Hudson's Band with Sam Browne on vocals.



What do you think of the video clips? Tell me.

Nina Simone: Love me or leave me

I think Nina Simone is kind of unique in the jazz world because as a piano player she added textures in the swing music from classical music. Here is a good example in this video clip from The Ed Sullivan Show where Nina Simone performs "Love me or leave me" followed by the jazz ballad "I love you, Porgy".


Nina Simone on The Ed Sullivan Show
Uploaded by redhotjazz

The music is written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn.

What do you think of Nina Simone and her version of "Love me or leave me"? Tell me.