Mode Plagal: Mode Plagal II 1998 + Mode Plagal III 2001

Something very strange has been happening at the butt of the Balkans for the past decade. Greek music, which in the days of the dictators endured campaigns to cleanse it of oriental influence, has been reaching east for the echoes of its Levantine soul.
                                                             

Mode Plagal are typical of the Byzantine ability to look both ways at once. On first hearing, they are a driving, straightahead jazz-funk outfit. Listen longer and the restless Greek spirit, audible in the

transcendent sax of Thodoris Rellos, becomes evident, drawing from rembetika - the Greek blues - and the dance music of the Balkans, Thrace, Asia Minor and all points east. Mode Plagal have also crossed the line to produce a remarkable album, influenced by classical Byzantine/Ottoman music, with the Turkish group Bosphorus, led by the Zambian-born composer Nikiforos Metaxas - a solitary Greek salmon who has swum against the tide of history and returned to Constantinople.
                                              

Mode Plagal, an inspired, pioneering Greek jazz-folk fusion group, is unique in Greece and beyond, for its ability to cover over-familiar (and thus, potentially boring) material in a way that sounds fresh and new, carrying the Greek vernacular into the 21st century better than almost anyone else in the country today.
                                                

They have been going strong for twenty-five years as friends and fifteen years as a group, releasing their first album (Mode Plagal I) on AnoKato Records in 1995, before moving to Lyra Records where they released their next two albums (I and II) and then their collaboration with the Istanbul-based ensemble Bosphorus titled Beyond the Bosphorus on Hitch-Hyke Records. Apart from their own

considerable success both within and beyond Greece, the three primaries in the ensemble, Thodoris Rellos, Takis Kanellos and Kleon Antoniou, are also sought-after session musicians and can be found behind recent successes by Alkinoos Ioannidis, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Yiota Vei and Vassilis Skoulas; on recent projects by Greece's homegrown Dylan, Dionysis Savvopoulos; and in projects such as 667 and 'mandata sound.' Their session work results in the emergence of new ideas but also brings out the negative side, like the tension associated with playing in front of large audiences, day in and day out, performing material other than your own.
                                                     

One late September day in 2005, in Thessaloniki, Mode Plagal's drummer and founding member, Takis Kanellos, talked about the past, the present and the future of Mode Plagal, touching on many of the subjects that are crucial for understanding the inner working of this unique ensemble: how they first

encountered the Greek tradition, their relation to jazz, their belief and faith in the power of music, their future plans and dream collaborations, their desire to bring out the relevance of the vernacular music for today's audiences, the deconstruction of the technical details behind their success, their views on their success abroad and their future plans. It is a story with unfamiliar angles, based on coincidences and centered around friendship, inquisitiveness, quality and the joy of life.
                                                  

When the three founding members of Mode Plagal first came together in 1980, they came from different backgrounds but had similar objectives. Antoniou was into rembetika, which was with him from infancy - his parents used to listen to traditional music from Epirus and rembetika and he was known to sing that kind of music in feasts and parties. Rellos was into Byzantine music and influenced

by relatives like his uncle, a cantor in the Greek church. Kanellos was playing rock, blues and jazz. All three, however, liked jazz and its power of improvisation. They liked the spirit it gave them to produce music "without the need of an overwhelming virtuosity," as he self-effacingly put it. He says it was not a conscious effort to do something complicated or analytical, but rather to make music that would flow and be danceable, whether it was in a dance-alienating 17/8 or not. Their influences were multiple, but they focused on the great popular musical styles of Britain and America: rock, blues and jazz, and later New Wave, funk, soul and hip-hop.
                                                                      

They also were influenced by groups and singers from Greece and abroad - Led Zeppelin, Socrates

(Drunk the Conium), Bourboulia, Poll, Area, and later Police and famous Greek jazz players Sakis Papadimitriou and Floros Floridis. Kanellos believes that the way Papadimitriou would hammer his piano or Floridis would play in a completely atonal mode opened their eyes to the freedom of jazz.

MODE PLAGAL - MODE PLAGAL II 1998

 

Label: Lyra
Released: 1998

TRACKS

                                               

01. Funky Vergina    [0:05:48.00]
Traditional tune originating from Western Macedonia. Arranged by Mode Plagal.
02. Miles' Leventikos    [0:07:00.73]
(gallant song) Mimis Doutsoulis - Thodoris Rellos NB.
transliterated Greek title: "To Leventiko tou Miles"
03. The Letter    [0:09:31.26]
Sender: Asemina Rellou Thodoris Rellos (voice: Th. Rellos) NB. transliterated Greek title: "To Gramma"
04. Carols    [0:06:10.69]
(Traditional Christmas carols originating from Thrace) Arranged by Mode Plagal NB. transliterated Greek title: "Kalanta"
05. Ulysses    [0:01:25.97]
(Improvisation) Mode Plagal NB. transliterated Greek title: "Odysseas"
06. Kalamatianos    [0:04:31.80]
(Folk Dance) Arranged by Mode Plagal. In Memoriam of Charlie Parker
07. Pikrodafni    [0:06:36.42]
(...a Blues) - (traditional song originating from Epirus) Arranged by Mode Plagal. Vocals: Kl. Antoniou, Th. Rellos, Ant. Maratos, T. Kanellos and Maria Aristopoulou, Sophia Papazoglou, Vassilis Hadjinikolaou, Panayotis (Chico) Katsikiotis, whom we thank for kindly accepting to participate in this album.
08. Helios    [0:03:52.20]
(Traditional tune originating from Continental Greece) Arranged by Mode Plagal. In memoriam of Vassilis Soukas
09. Cyclops    [0:00:18.90]
(Improvisation) Mode Plagal NB. transliterated Greek title: "Kyklopas"
10. Rock Around Eleven    [0:03:44.46]
Thodoris Rellos
11. Ivo    [0:05:05.80]
(Traditional tune originating from Bulgaria) Arranged by Mode Plagal
12. Solo Sax    [0:02:27.40]
Live recording from Half Note Club, Athens
13. Salona    [0:04:15.60]
(Traditional tune originating from Continental Greece) Arranged by Mode Plagal
14. Solo Drums    [0:01:06.13]
(17/17)
15. On Foreign Lands    [0:04:42.16]
(Traditional tune originating from Thrace) Arranged by Mode Plagal NB. transliterated Greek title: " 'Gw sta ksena "
16. Blazing Sun    [0:01:44.33]
Mode Plagal NB. transliterated Greek title: "Ntala Helios"

MEMBERS

                              

Thodoris Rellos - alto saxophone
Cleon Antoniou - electric guitar
Antonis Maratos - electric bass
Takis Kanellos - drums
Angelos Polychroniou (in tracks 1,2,3,4,10,11,15) congas - (in track 7) Tambourine

MP3 @ 320 Size: 160 MB
Flac  Size: 456 MB

MODE PLAGAL - MODE PLAGAL III  2001

 

Label: Lyra
Released: 2001

"In Greek Mode … one of the more inventive bands in the current Greek roots scene…" is how Chris Williams introduces Mode Plagal in his April 2002 feature in fRoots magazine (UK). "... compared to the king of the Thraecian wedding music, the Bulgarian clarinet player Ivo Papasov,..[...]..Mode Plagal are more radical in dissolving the ethnic references..." writes T. Maas, about their 2001 live appearance in Club Paradiso, Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

"… Mode Plagal is hipper than any American record I've heard in a long time… they make a case for fusion that might have saved the genre twenty years ago…" is how Modern Drummer (USA) magazine responded to ethnic-jazz combo Mode Plagal's self-titled debute release back in 1995.
Mode Plagal belong to a group of bands who, using the jazz technique, have created a unique musical idiom. An idiom with references to traditional music and verse, to Byzantine sounds, funk rhythms and many other musical elements which do not belong to just one genre, or have not been used per se, but only as influences.
                                        

The Athens based band was formed in 1990 by Thodoris Rellos (saxophone, voice), Kleon Antoniou (guitars, voice) and Takis Kanellos (drums).

In 1995 Antonis Maratos (bass) joins the band and they release their first album, MODE PLAGAL, on Ano Kato records, Thessaloniki.
In 1998, with the addition of Angelos Polychronou (percussion), they release MODE PLAGAL II on Lyra.
This second album was voted No 96 in the annual WMCE (World Music Charts Europe) Top 100, for the year 2000.
                                      

In 2001, with the addition of Manos Saridakis and Florian Mikuta -who joins the band in their live concerts ever since- (keys), they release their 3d album, MODE PLAGAL III, on Lyra. Unlike its predecessors, whose material was mostly instrumental, Mode Plagal III features a formidable cast of

some of the country's finest female vocalists, Yiota Vei, Savina Yannatou, Eleni Tsaligopoulou and Theodosia Tsatsou.
Mode Plagal III pays also tribute to the richness and beauty of traditional greek verse, the aesthetics that define the demotic tradition and the personification in folk poetry of birds and animals, to who the anonymous creator lends human attributes.
                                    

MODE PLAGAL III was voted No 13 in the Top 20 of the WMCE (World Music Charts Europe) in March 2002, and No 33 in the TOP 100 for the Year 2002. With the recording of their third album, Mode Plagal have completed 12 years of dealing, researching and experimenting on traditional greek

music. In 2003, in cooperation with the traditional group Bosphorus from Turkey, artistic direction by Nikiforos Metaxas, they release with Hitch Hyke the album "Beyond the Bosphorus", with new compositions by artists of both groups, and with the voice and lyrics of Vassiliki Papageorgiou. Tracks of Mode Plagal albums are included in international world music releases (World Music Network (UK) - Rough Guide to Greece, 2001, fRoots compilation (UK)- summer 2002, Resistencia (Spain)- "Grecia, Oriente y de Occidente" and more)
                                  

Mode Plagal have collaborated on stage with many artists, recently with Eleni Tsaligopoulou (1999-2000), with Bosphorus group (2001-2), Yiota Vei and Vasilis Skoulas (2001), Dionysis Savvopoulos (2002-3). They have also recorded for the National Greek Radio (the legendary 3rd program), and for the New National Television (NET).
                                      

The group, a dynamic live band, has given numerous concerts all over Greece and has appeared in many festivals in Greece and abroad, to name a few: 2nd CYCLADIC JAZZ FESTIVAL, the 5th EURO-SYRIAN JAZZ festival (1999, DAMASCUS), the Athens "MEGARON" Concert Hall (1999), 1st and 2nd ETHNIC-JAZZ festival in Athens (2000-1), NATIONAL PERCUSSION FESTIVAL

(Thessaloniki), in Smyrni and Istanbul (TURKEY) in collaboration with Bosphorus, for the 100 years of George Seferis, 2000), GAIA festival (Thessaloniki 2001), the BARBICAN THEATRE (London, 2001), in DEN HAAG, AMSTERDAM, UTRECHT and ROTTERDAM (in collaboration with Anadolu Feneri group, a branch of Bosphorus), EARTHFESTIVAL in SPAIN (2001), in Club PARADISO, AMSTERDAM (2001), NIGMEJEN, UTRECHT, DE WARANTE (2001), BATH FRINGE FESTIVAL (2003), QUEEN ELIZABETH – London (2003) and many more.
                                          

MODE PLAGAL have managed, up to the highest point, to function and create as a group of autonomus musical nature. Blending jazz, funk, greek folk, byzantine, balcan, african rhythms and

more, and balancing with mastery these elements, combing them with their spontaneity and humor - basic element in their work - they manage to show that tradition is alive and always developing and to create their distinct recognizable sound, a musical idiom of their own, fresh, well-crafted and finally downright radical.

Mode Plagal III

                                                 

Unlike its predecessors, whose material was mostly instrumental, "Mode Plagal III" features a

formidable cast of some of the country's finest female vocalists, Yiota Vei, Savina Yannatou, Eleni Tsaligopoulou and Theodosia Tsatsou.With the recording of their third album, Mode Plagal have completed 10 years of dealing, researching and experimenting on traditional greek music. In "Mode Plagal III",the group arranges traditional greek folk songs from Continental Greece, Epirus, Thrace, Macedonia and the Aegean island of Patmos.

TRACKS

                                           

01. Mode Plagal - A NIGHT IN KARPENISIA (Instrumental)
02. Θοδωρής Ρέλλος - Εμένα μου το 'παν τα πουλιά = ONCE, THE BIRDS CONFESSED TO ME - Thodoris Rellos
03. Γιώτα Βέη - Ντελή Παπάς (Παπα-Γιώργης) = DELI PAPAS (Papa-Yiorgis) - Yiota Vei
04. Mode Plagal - Λερικός (Γκάιντα) = LERIKOS (Gaida - Bagpipe) - Cleon Antoniou (Dedicated To The Memory Of Jimi Hendrix)
05. Σαβίνα Γιαννάτου - Κάλαντα Θράκης = THRACIAN CHRISTMAS CAROLS - Savina Yannatou
06. PERISTEROUDA (Bossa 7/8) - Cleon Antoniou
07. Γιώτα Βέη - Στου μαυριάνου τ' αλώνι = ON MAVRIANOS' THRESHING YARD - Yiota Vei
08. Θεοδοσία Τσάτσου - Τα παιδιά της γειτονιάς σου = LADS ACROSS YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD - Theodosia Tsatsou
09. Mode Plagal - (Τρια παιδιά βολιώτικα) = TROIS ENFANTS DE VOLIOTIQUE (Instrumental)
10. Ελένη Τσαλιγοπούλου - Μαύρα Χελιδόνια = BLACK SWALLOWS - Eleni Tsaligopoulou
11. Mode Plagal - Λήμνος = LEMNOS (Instrumental)
12. Mode Plagal - Φεγγαράκι = LITTLE MOON - Thodoris Rellos, Cleon Antoniou
13. Ορχήστρα - Δημητρώ = DEMETRO (Instrumental)

MEMBERS

                                      

Thodoris Rellos - Alto & Baritone Saxophone, Lead Vocals
Cleon Antoniou - Electric Guitar, Lead Vocals & Percussion (11)
Manos Saridakis - Fender Rhodes & Hammond
Antonis Maratos - Electric Bass, Percussion (4,5,6,7,11) & Backing Vocals
Takis kanellos - Drums, Percussion (1,6,7,11) & Backing Vocals
Angelos Polychoniou - Percussion (Conga, Timbales, Djembe)

MP3 @ 320 Size: 168 MB
Flac  Size: 495 MB

 

Charlie Watts Quintet: A Tribute To Charlie Parker With Strings 1992

Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who was the drummer for the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. One of the band's core members, Watts, alongside lead vocalist and frontman Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, were the only members of the band to perform on all of their studio albums. He cited jazz as a major influence on his drumming style.
                                                                                                        

Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an interest in jazz at a young age, and joined the band Blues Incorporated. He also started playing drums in London's rhythm and blues clubs, where he met future bandmates Jagger, Richards, and Brian Jones.
                                                                                              

In January 1963, he left Blues Incorporated and joined the Rolling Stones as drummer, while doubling as designer of their record sleeves and tour stages. Watts's first public appearance as a permanent member was in February 1963, and he remained with the group until his death 58 years later.Aside from his career with the Rolling Stones, Watts toured with his own group, the Charlie Watts Quintet, and appeared in London at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with the Charlie Watts Tentet.
                                                                   

In the mid-1980s, Watts's previously moderate use of alcohol and drugs became problematic. "[They were] my way of dealing with [family problems] ..." he said. "I think it was a mid-life crisis. All I know is that I became totally another person around 1983 and came out of it about 1986. I nearly lost my wife and everything over my behaviour." In June 2004, Watts was diagnosed with throat cancer, despite having quit smoking in the late 1980s, and underwent a course of radiotherapy, and it later went into remission.
                                                                         

In 1991, he organised a jazz quintet as another tribute to Charlie Parker. The year 1993 saw the release of Warm and Tender, by the Charlie Watts Quintet, which included vocalist Bernard Fowler. This same group released Long Ago and Far Away in 1996. Both records included a collection of Great American Songbook standards.
                                                                          

In 1991 The Guardian described Watts as a "heroic yet quaint archetype... of the "Rock Drummer", and we are unlikely to hear their like again." The Guardian attributed his professional survival to not ever aspiring for stardom nor forcing himself into songwriting. In the July 2006 issue of Modern Drummer magazine, Watts was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame, joining Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich and other highly esteemed and influential drummers from the history of rock and jazz.[53] That same year, Vanity Fair elected him into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. In the estimation of music critic Robert Christgau, Watts was "rock's greatest drummer".
                                                                   

In 2016, he was ranked 12th on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time" list. Variety stated on the day of his death that Watts is "universally recognized as one of the greatest rock drummers of all time". Music critic Rob Sheffield wrote for Rolling Stone that Watts was "rock's ultimate drum god" who "made the Stones great by conceding nothing to them".
                                                                     

This particular set, "A tribute to Charlie Parker" that features a quintet, vocalist Bernard Fowler (who sings "Lover Man" and adds some narration about Parker's life), six strings, harp, and oboe, has renditions of seven songs associated with Bird. Altoist Peter King is easily the solo star, trumpeter Gerard Presencer is decent but not on the same level, and pianist Brian Lemon also gets in some spots; Watts stays in the background. This well-intentioned program is well worth acquiring and its highlights include versions of "Just Friends," "Dewey Square," and "Perdido."

Live at Ronnie Scotts Birmingham UK
Label; Psycho 74321 120412
Country: Italy
Genre: Jazz
Style: Big Band
Year: 1992

TRACKS

 

01. Intro     0:25
02. Practicing, Practicing, Just Great     6:06
03. Black Bird, White Chicks     5:10
04. Bluebird     4:28
05. Bound for New York     5:46
06. Terra de Pajaro     3:57
07. Bad Seeds-Rye Drinks     4:57
08. Relaxin' at Camarillo     3:54
09. Going, Going, Going, Gone     7:08
10. Just Friends     3:18
11. Cool Blues     3:17
12. Dancing in the Dark     3:22
13. Dewey's Square     5:37
14. Rocker     4:05
15. Lover Man     6:31
16. Perdido     7:19

MP3 @ 320 Size: 176 MB
Flac  Size: 443 MB

Nina Simone: To Be Free - The Nina Simone Story (3 x CD) Compilation 2013

 

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone,

was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist. 

                                  

She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.
                                                                                   

There are two types of maverick artists: the ones who adopt different styles as a way of switching

costumes, and the ones who take a variety of musical concepts and subvert them wholly to their own ideas, and their own identities. Nina Simone was clearly the latter. Drawing on a wide swath of her catalog, from her first recording session to one of her last, producer Richard Seidel demonstrates how boldly she seized any song that caught her ear, as she marches through Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, torch songs, folk songs, and the pop and rock hits of her day.
                                                                 

A Julliard-trained pianist who played clubs while harboring an ambition to be a composer, Simone

scored hits with a label that had to cede total creative control before she'd sign on their dotted line. Her performances were spontaneous, her mood impetuous and imperious. It's as hard to boil down the many facets of Simone's career as to romanticize the rough edges. To Be Free succeeds because it doesn't even try.
                                                                     

Disc One is the most varied. A reading of Ellington's "Mood Indigo" from her first studio session

opens the set, and introduces Simone as a smart jazz singer and a pianist with fingers of steel. She's unpredictable from her earliest cuts, with her playing erupting into sudden bursts of forte while she sings each lyric as if she's only just deciding what she thinks of it. Her voice is low and rich but its power, proven on tracks like "I Put a Spell on You", lies in its sudden intensity; and on the live tracks that make up roughly half the set, we hear a nightclub vet's knack for sensing every twitch in the crowd's mood, and a diva's gift for ignoring them at her whim.
Her bloodcurdling performance of Weill's "Pirate Jenny" sears anyone who would ever think of the protagonist as less than a human being. She probably would have sung it the same way no matter what was happening in the Deep South, but it marks one of the earliest times she addressed the civil rights movement.  
                                                                

Disc Two covers the crucial period from 1968-69, starting with a live performance of "Mississippi

Goddam" recorded days after the murder of Dr. King. "I'm not about to be non-violent, honey!" Simone cracks at one point, and she follows the statement with a laugh: Simone's no militant, but her resistance ain't passive, or saintly.
Instead, it's proud. By the late 60s Simone reveals herself as a hell of a singer for a rock band: you can hear it over the fierce "Save Me" and "Revolution," and she sings 1968's "Ain't Got No-I Got Life" with every ounce of her body. And rebel or no, she was also on top of the pop trends, and knew the right artists to cover. The backing vocals on "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "Poppies" date the performances, but her Bob Dylan covers are often exquisite-- especially "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", which melts the original's rambling blues into a reverie.
                                                        

On Disc Three, the tunes get funkier, the grooves run longer, and the theaters are larger. The

rambling but rousing centerpiece of her late-period disc is a 20-minute "My Sweet Lord" that segues in and out of a solo reading of "Today Is a Killer"-- and ends with Simone's cry that the Lord "is a killer." (Even He can't escape her wrath.) But as the disc wears on, the performances start to sound exhausted, until they trail off in the early 70s.
                                                               

So many strong currents run through To Be Free that it's easy to cling to just one.  But right when we

focus on her as a protest singer, we fall into a haunted ballad like "The Other Woman"; and anyone who picks this up thinking they're getting brunch music wasn't counting on all the bongos.  Simone is missed, but this isn't a sentimental set, and while it's tempting to juxtapose her eulogy for Dr. King with what happened on election day last month, that's just one part of what she fought for-- and one part of what made her free.
                                                         

[Disc one does include strong pre-RCA tracks from the first decade of her recording career, including

some of her best-known classics of the time, like "My Baby Just Cares for Me," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "See-Line Woman," "I Put a Spell on You," and "Four Women." While the RCA era arguably saw her move too much into pop-oriented production on occasion and too many covers of pop/rock hits, the selections from that era are chosen with intelligence, including a good number of live tracks.
                                                                                            

The two post-1973 cuts -- one from 1978 and one from her final proper album, 1993's A Single Woman -- seem like afterthoughts to ensure that most of her career was covered in some way, but that's justifiable considering that the last three decades of her life saw little in the way of noteworthy recordings.
                                                            

Though there's not much in the way of rarities, the set also does contain half a dozen previously unreleased live tracks of merit; four songs from the hard-to-find album A Very Rare Evening, recorded live in Germany in April 1969; and a couple (a live cover of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and an alternate version of "Ain't Got No -- I Got Life") that make their first U.S. appearance.
Review by Richie Unterberger]

                                                          

Nina Simone ‎– To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story
Label: RCA ‎– 88765442452, Legacy ‎– 88765442452
Format: 3 × CD, Compilation, Repress
DVD, DVD-Video, NTSC, Repress
Country: Brazil
Released: 2013
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Soul-Jazz, Gospel

CD 1.  1957 - 1968

01. Mood Indigo (Bass – Jimmy Bond, Drums – Albert "Tootie" Heath, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington, Irving Mills)  4:01
02. I Loves You, Porgy  (Bass – Jimmy Bond, Drums – Albert "Tootie" Heath, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)  4:09
03. My Baby Just Cares For Me  (Bass – Jimmy Bond, Drums – Albert "Tootie" Heath, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson)  3:36
04. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out  (Producer – Stu Phillips, Written-By – Jimmie Cox)  2:39
05. You Can Have Him (Live)  (Bass – Jimmy Bond, Drums – Albert "Tootie" Heath, Producer – Bob Blake, Jack Gold, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Irving Berlin)  5:55
06. Wild Is The Wind (Live)  (Bass – Jimmy Bond, Drums – Albert "Tootie" Heath, Producer – Bob Blake, Jack Gold, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington)  3:33
07. Trouble In Mind (Live)  (Bass – Chris White, Drums – Bobby Hamilton, Guitar – Al Schackman, Producer – Stu Phillips, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Richard Jones)  5:34
08. When Malindy Sings / Swing Low Sweet Chariot (Live)  (Bass – Lisle Atkinson, Drums – Montego Joe, Guitar – Al Schackman, Phil Alonzo, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Oscar Brown, Jr., Paul Laurence Dunbar, Traditional)  5:39
09. See-Line Woman (Live)  (Bass – Lisle Atkinson, Drums – Bobby Hamilton, Flute – Rudy Stevenson, Producer – Hal Mooney, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – George Bass)  2:36
10. Pirate Jenny (Live)  (Bass – Lisle Atkinson, Drums – Bobby Hamilton, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Producer – Hal Mooney, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Marc Blitzstein)  6:38
11. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood  (Producer – Hal Mooney Written-By – Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus)  2:44
12. I Put A Spell On You  (Arranged By, Conductor, Producer – Hal Mooney, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins)  2:34
13. Ne Me Quitte Pas  (Arranged By, Conductor, Producer – Hal Mooney, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Jacques Brel)  3:35
14. Feeling Good  (Arranged By, Conductor, Producer – Hal Mooney, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written - By – Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse)  2:54
15. Four Women  (Bass – Lisle Atkinson, Drums – Bobby Hamilton, Guitar, Flute – Rudy Stevenson, Producer – Hal Mooney, Written-By, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone)  4:25
16. My Man's Gone Now  (Bass – Bob Bushnell, Producer – Danny Davis, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin)  4:17
17. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free  (Arranged By, Conductor – Sammy Lowe, Bass – Gene Taylor, Contractor, Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Flute, Flute [G] – Mel Tax, Drums – Bernard Purdie, Guitar – Eric Gale, Piano – Ernie Hayes, Producer – Danny Davis, Tenor Saxophone, Flute [Alto] – Seldon Powell, Trumpet – Ernie Royal, Marky Markowitz, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Billy Taylor, Dick Dallas)  3:08
18. To Love Somebody  (Arranged By, Conductor – Jimmy Wisner, Bass – Chuck Rainey, Cello – Maurice Bialkin, Seymour Barab, Drums – Bernard Purdie, Guitar – Eric Gale, Everett Barksdale, Percussion – Alvin Rogers, Producer – Danny Davis, Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ernie Royal, Marky Markowitz, Trumpet, Trumpet [Bass] – Dominick Gravine, Vibraphone – Gordon Powell, Violin – David Sackson, Irving Spice, Jack Zayde, Joseph Haber, Julius Brand, Lewis Eley, Louis Haber, Michael Comins, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb)  2:38
19. Sunday In Savannah (Live)  (Bass – Gene Taylor, Drums – Buck Clarke, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Organ – Samuel Waymon, Producer – Joe René, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Hugh MacKay)  3:16
20. Backlash Blues (Live)  (Bass – Gene Taylor, Drums – Buck Clarke, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Organ – Samuel Waymon, Producer – Joe René, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Langston Hughes, Nina Simone)  3:32

MP3 @ 320 Size: 185 MB
Flac  Size: 414 MB

 

CD 2.  1968 - 1969

 

 

01. Mississippi Goddam (Live)  (Bass – Gene Taylor, Drums – Buck Clarke, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Organ – Samuel Waymon, Producer – Joe René, Written-By, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone)  6:54
02. In The Morning  (Bass – Gene Taylor, Drums – Buck Clarke, Guitar – Rudy Stevenson, Organ – Samuel Waymon, Producer – Joe René, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Barry Gibb)  2:42
03. Ain't Got No-I Got Life (Alternate Version)  (Arranged By, Conductor – Horace Ott, Bass – Jerry Jemmott, Drums, Timpani – Bernard Purdie, Guitar – Carl Lynch, Eric Gale, Henry Young, Organ – Ernie Hayes, Piano – Paul Griffin, Saxophone – Haywood Henry, Trombone – Garnett Brown, Trumpet – Harold Johnson, Joe Shepley, Wilbur Bascomb, Vocals – Nina Simone, Written-By – Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, James Rado)  2:56
04. Do What You Gotta Do  (Arranged By, Conductor – Horace Ott, Bass – Jerry Jemmott, Drums, Timpani – Bernard Purdie, Guitar – Carl Lynch, Eric Gale, Henry Young, Organ – Ernie Hayes, Piano – Paul Griffin, Saxophone – Haywood Henry, Trombone – Garnett Brown, Trumpet – Harold Johnson, Joe Shepley, Wilbur Bascomb, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Jimmy Webb)  3:00
05. Seems I'm Never Tired Loving You  (Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Carolyn Franklin)  3:02
06. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues  (Bass – Gene Perla, Drums, Percussion – Don Alias, Guitar – Al Schackman, Stuart Scharf, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Bob Dylan)  4:49
07. The Times They Are A-Changin'  (Bass – Gene Perla, Drums, Timpani – Bernard Purdie, Guitar – Al Schackman, Ernie Calabria, Organ – Weldon Irvine, Percussion – Don Alias, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Bob Dylan)  5:54
08. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)  (Adapted By, Music By – Pete Seeger, Backing Vocals – Doris Willingham, Virdia Crawford, Bass – Gene Perla, Drums – Don Alias, Guitar – Al Schackman, Organ – Weldon Irvine, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone)  3:40
09. The Other Woman (Live)  (Bass – Gene Perla, Drums – Don Alias, Guitar – Al Schackman, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Jessie Mae Robinson)  6:00
10. I Think It's Going To Rain Today (Live)  (Bass – Gene Perla, Drums – Don Alias, Guitar – Al Schackman, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Randy Newman)  4:45
11. Save Me (Live)  (Bass – Gene Perla, Congas, Percussion – Emedin Rivera, Drums – Don Alias, Guitar – Al Schackman, Organ – Weldon Irvine, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Aretha Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Curtis Ousley)  3:33
12. Revolution (Live)  (Backing Vocals – Doris Willingham, Gina Rothchild, Bass – Gene Perla, Congas, Percussion – Emedin Rivera, Drums – Don Alias, Guitar – Al Schackman, Organ – Weldon Irvine, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Nina Simone, Weldon Irvine)  6:21
13. To Be Young, Gifted And Black  (Bass – Jerry Jemmott, Drums – Bernard Purdie, Guitar – Eric Gale, Organ – Richard Tee, Organ, Arranged By, Conductor – Weldon Irvine, Percussion – George Devens, Montego Joe, Vibraphone, Percussion – Gordon Powell, Vocals – Barbara Webb, Eileen Gilbert, Hilda Harris, Jerome Graff, Maeretha Stewart, Milt Grayson, Noah Hopkins, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Nina Simone, Weldon Irvine)  2:50
14. Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (Live)  (Arranged By, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Traditional)  3:23
15. Westwind (Live)  (Bongos – Don Alias, Congas – Jumma Santos, Vocals – Nina Simone, Written-By – Caiphus Semenya, William Salter)  8:46
16. Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Live)  (Organ – Weldon Irvine, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Sandy Denny)  4:58
17. Suzanne (Live)  (Bongos – Don Alias, Congas – Jumma Santos, Guitar – Emile Latimer, Tom Smith, Organ – Weldon Irvine, Vocals – Nina Simone, Written-By – Leonard Cohen)  5:03

MP3 @320 Size: 188 MB
Flac  Size: 407 MB

CD 3.  1969 - 1993
                                                                                         

01. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed (Live)  (Bongos – Don Alias, Congas – Jumma Santos, Guitar – Emile Latimer, Tom Smith, Organ – Weldon Irvine, Vocals – Nina Simone, Written-By – Richie Havens)  4:49
02. Just Like A Woman  (Arranged By – Harold Wheeler, Nina Simone, Conductor – Harold Wheeler, Producer – Harold Wheeler, Nat Shapiro, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Bob Dylan)  4:51
03. Here Comes The Sun  (Arranged By – Harold Wheeler, Nina Simone, Conductor – Harold Wheeler, Producer – Harold Wheeler, Nat Shapiro, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – George Harrison)  3:34
04. Tanywey  (Arranged By – Harold Wheeler, Nina Simone, Producer – Harold Wheeler, Written-By, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone)  3:26
05. Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (Live)  (Bass – Gene Perla, Drums – Don Alias, Guitar – David Spinoza, Organ – Samuel Waymon, Percussion – Essien Nkrumah, Nadi Qamar, Vocals, Producer – Nina Simone, Written-By – Aillene Bullock, Tina Turner)  5:15
06. My Sweet Lord / Today Is A Killer (Live)  (Choir – Bethany Baptist Church Junior Choir Of South Jamaica, Lyrics By [Additional] – Nina Simone, Organ, Vocals – Samuel Waymon, Producer – Walter Robinson, Weldon Irvine, Vocals – Lisa Stroud, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – David Nelson, George Harrison, Nina Simone)  18:18
07. Let It Be Me (Live)  (Organ, Vocals – Samuel Waymon, Producer – Walter Robinson, Weldon Irvine, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Written-By – Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë)  5:00
08. Poppies  (Arranged By – Weldon Irvine, Lyrics By [Additional], Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Producer – Pete Spargo, Written-By – Jeremy Wind, Lennie Bleacher)  4:45
09. Mr. Bojangles (Live)  (Guitar – Al Schackman, Percussion – Nadi Qamar, Vocals, Piano, Producer – Nina Simone, Written-By – Jerry Jeff Walker)  4:51
10. I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl (Live)  (Guitar – Al Schackman, Percussion – Nadi Qamar, Written-By, Vocals, Piano, Producer – Nina Simone)  5:46
11. Nina (Live)  (Kalimba – Nadi Qamar, Sitar – Al Schackman, Written-By, Vocals, Producer – Nina Simone)  4:14
12. Zungo (Live)  (Percussion – Nadi QamarSitar – Al Schackman, Vocals, Producer – Nina Simone, Written-By – Michael Babatunde Olatunji)  4:18
13. Baltimore  (Arranged By [Strings], Conductor – David Matthews Arranged By, Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone, Bass – Chuck Israels, Gary King, Homer Mensch, John Beal, Cello – Alan Schulman, Charles McCracken, Jonathan Arramowitz, Drums – Jim Madison, Guitar – Eric Gale, Percussion – Nicky Marrero, Piano, Tambourine, Music By [Musical Director] – Al Schackman Producer – Creed Taylor, Viola – Alfred Brown, Emanuel Vardi, Lamar Alsop, Violin – Barry Finclair, Charles Libove, David Nadien, Harry Glickman, Harry Lookofsky, Herbert Sorkin, Marvin Morgenstern, Max Ellen, Richard Sortomme, Written-By – Randy Newman)  4:38
14. A Single Woman  (Arranged By [Orchestra] – Jeremy Lubbock, Bass – John Clayton, Drums – Jeff Hamilton, Piano – Michael Melvoin, Producer – Andre Fischer Vocals – Nina Simone, Written-By – Rod McKuen)  3:33

MP3 @ 320 Size: 185 MB
Flac  Size: 438 MB