Maps of Music

Gifted & Black (1970)

Where the lyrics of Gifted & Black take you, and where it was really made.

This 1970 Nina Simone album may be a demo recorded in spring 1957, with strings added for its release.

Place unknown

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Gifted & Black is an unofficial studio album by jazz singer, pianist, and songwriter Nina Simone
Originally released in 1970 by Canyon Records, a little known label
Probably released in July 1970, judging by the date of a Rolling Stone review (6 August 1970)
Thought to be a demo tape made by Simone in spring 1957
Made some months before Little Girl Blue, her first official album, was recorded in December 1957
Strings were added to the original recording for the 1970 release

Simone was signed to RCA at the time
Stroud Productions and Enterprises, Inc., a company set up by her husband Andy Stroud, was involved in the release
Simone and Stroud's relationship broke down during 1969 and 1970
Simone eventually left the United States for Barbados in September 1970
Stroud remained her manager for some time afterward and controlled her income, touring, and the mastertapes of her non-contracted recordings

The sleeve and label give no recording year and no names for the musicians in Simone's band
Monk Higgins arranged the strings and is the only musician credited on the sleeve
Roger Nupie of The Nina Simone Database suggests the tracks may be Simone's earliest existing recordings

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina; the sixth of eight children.
Began playing piano at age three or four and gave a classical debut recital at age 12.
Failed to gain admission to the Curtis Institute of Music, which she attributed to racism.
Played piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City and adopted the stage name "Nina Simone" in 1954, after which she began singing as well.

Debut album Little Girl Blue (1958) included "I Loves You, Porgy", her only Billboard top 20 single in the US.
Recorded more than 40 albums up to 1974; her 1960s protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" tied her to the civil rights movement.
Left the US in 1970 and settled in Europe, later living in Liberia, Barbados, the Netherlands, and France.
Autobiography I Put a Spell on You was published in 1991; she continued performing until her death on April 21, 2003.
Known as the "High Priestess of Soul"; Rolling Stone ranked her No. 21 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Solo artist; she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist Al Schackman throughout most of her career.

Rolling Stone (6 August 1970): the reviewer said the album misrepresents what Simone was currently doing and does a disservice to an exceptional artist's career
Rolling Stone: the strings dubbed over her piano trio were in poor, nay bad, taste
Rolling Stone: the reviewer joked that the recording mikes seemed to be placed down the hall, in the toilet, perhaps
Rolling Stone: the reviewer guessed the album was recorded around 1967

AllMusic (Richard Mortifoglio) considered Gifted & Black something of a lost cabaret masterpiece
Mortifoglio wrote that Simone seemed to channel the cabaret artist Mabel Mercer, and was an outstanding interpreter of the Great American Songbook
Mortifoglio took the release date at face value, as the Rolling Stone reviewer did
Roger Nupie (The Nina Simone Database) suggests the tracks are a demo recorded in early 1957, and that Stroud later added strings arranged by Monk Higgins

Little Girl Blue, Simone's first official album, was recorded in December 1957, a few months after the demo.
Nupie suggests the demo helped her win her first recording contract with Bethlehem Records later in 1957.
The title follows Simone's 1969 single To Be Young, Gifted and Black.
In 2009 the album was reissued with the 1973 live album Live at Berkeley, released by Charly Records.
Stroud created his own label in 1972 and released a number of records afterward, including Nina Simone Sings Billie Holiday - Lady Sings the Blues (1973).