Sights and Sounds: Nina Simone, Paul Kelly, Buffalo Nichols

Several major announcements related to new and forthcoming titles are featured below...Robert Kinsler

'Nina Simone and Her Friends' deluxe reissue coming from BMG on Dec. 3, 2021; set includes four tracks from 'Little Girl Blue' recording session in 1957

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Originally released by Bethlehem Records in 1959, Nina Simone and Her Friends was a compilation album comprising the few remaining unreleased tracks from the 1957 Little Girl Blue recording session plus songs recorded by two other former Bethlehem artists, the powerhouse jazz vocalist Carmen McRae and the elegant song stylist Chris Connor. 

An RSD-Essentials exclusive “emerald-green” limited-edition 180-gram LP will be available, along with CD and digital/streaming versions (high-definition and standard) on December 3, 2021. The reissue features a fresh stereo master done by four-time Grammy winner Michael Graves as well as a vinyl remastering by the renowned Kevin Gray. Grammy winner Cheryl Pawelski produced the set, which includes a new essay by Daphne A. Brooks, author of Liner Notes for the Revolution.

 

As Brooks explains in her essay, “Bethlehem clustered their work — tracks that had previously appeared on the label’s Girlfriends compilation — together with the younger, upstart Simone’s and essentially offered up a collection of songs that span a range of genres — folk, jazz, pop song staples, and torch song laments, plus a couple of provocative original compositions by McRae and Simone. Each track is a reminder of the clear-eyed independence, verve, and confidence of three artists whose music, taken together, brims with the majesty and the assured talents of the late 1950s women artists who led with conviction and invention as musicians and song interpreters.” 
 

Available today, October 20, as a sneak-peak, “African Mailman” is an instrumental track recorded during the Little Girl Blue sessions, showcasing Nina Simone’s incredible piano playing. At the time, Simone was in her mid-20s and still aspiring to be a classical concert pianist. As Brooks describes it: “A magisterial original composition of Simone’s which, as she recounts it, ‘was made up on the spot in the studio and recorded in one take,’ finds her moving across an Afrodiasporic terrain of percussion, leading at the keyboard, rolling and tumbling, building waves of contrasting chromatic depth and spinning, ethereal flight.”

 

NINA SIMONE AND HER FRIENDS

TRACK LIST:

1. Nina Simone – “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” 
2. Chris Conner – “Someone to Watch Over Me” 
3. Carmen McRae – “Old Devil Moon” 
4. Nina Simone – “I Loves You, Porgy” 
5. Chris Connor – “I Concentrate on You” 
6. Carmen McRae – “You Made Me Care” 
7. Nina Simone – “For All We Know” 
8. Chris Connor – “From This Moment On” 
9. Carmen McRae – “Too Much in Love to Care” 
10. Nina Simone – “African Mailman” 
11. Chris Connor – “All This and Heaven Too” 
12. Carmen McRae – “Last Time for Love” 
    

   

 

Watch the "African Mailman" single: https://youtu.be/40yr9iuv__Q

Paul Kelly readies 'How to Make Gravy,' Australia's most popular holiday song; new single from 'Paul Kelly's Christmas Train' album due out Nov. 19 on Gawd Aggie/Cooking Vinyl in time for Gravy Day

MELBOURNE, Australia — As he gathered the material for his first Christmas album, Paul Kelly soon realized that a collection of 10 seasonal standards could never cover the richness he wanted to convey. He knew he wanted to make a record that drew out all the emotions and layers of the Christmas story, and in a way that reflected the holiday experience in the southern hemisphere, far removed from the snowy imagery of so many Christmas songs.

 

The result is an extraordinary 22-song double album that travels across the centuries, from a Latin hymn to well-known carols, from a traditional Irish folk ballad to songs with an unmistakable local flavor, and a sparkling new version of one of the greatest Australian Christmas songs of them all, Kelly’s own “How to Make Gravy,” scheduled for November 19, 2021 release on Gawd Aggie / Cooking Vinyl

 

“I’ve always been interested in Christmas songs and the variety of them,” Kelly says. “There is a double-edged sword to Christmas music because every year it is everywhere, pumped to you in supermarkets and malls. There is a lot of schlock attached but on the other hand there are so many great Christmas songs and so much to explore. I’ve chosen songs I love, which led me often to wander off the well-worn path, then chosen singers I thought best suited to them.”  

The sacred and the secular, the ancient and modern, are all carefully woven into a collection destined to become a part of Christmases around the globe for many years to come. It is delivered by Kelly and his band with a big cast of Christmas helpers including vocalists Vika and Linda Bull, Marlon Williams, Kasey Chambers and Emma Donovan, along with contributions from the Kelly clan: nephew and bandmate Dan, siblings Mary-Jo and Tony, and Paul’s daughters Maddy and Memphis.

 

Christmas was a big part of Kelly’s upbringing in a large Catholic family in Adelaide. “We had Advent, the month-long build-up to Christmas. There was a small crib in one of the fireplaces with a pile of straw beside it. Every time you did something good or denied yourself something you would secretly put straw in the crib so it would be filled by Christmas, when a statuette of the baby Jesus would miraculously appear in the crib. The statues of the Three Wise Men started a long way off in another part of the house, secretly moving every night along mantelpieces so they would arrive at the crib for the Epiphany on January 6. That was all part of Christmas for us. It was fun and mysterious and had that magic about it.”

 

For the Kelly clan singing is always part of the season, especially on Gravy Day (December 21), “Sometimes we do it all together, sometimes the Queensland gang do it separately from the Melbourne gang, and we have the tradition of singing carols on Christmas Eve, not very reverentially.”

 

Part of the joy in Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train comes from discovering fresh ways to treat the best-known songs, from the Hawaiian guitar and ukuleles of “Silent Night,” with a verse in the original German sung by Alice Keath, to an astonishing performance by Marlon Williams singing “Tapu Te P?” (O Holy Night) in the M?ori language. The story of Jesus and Mary has strong associations with Judaism and Islam (the Qu’ran has a chapter devoted to the story); here on Christmas Train singer-songwriter Lior joins Paul, Alice, and Emily Lubitz for an a cappella reading of the Hebrew prayer of peace, “Shalom Aleichem,” and Waleed Aly recites the vivid poetry of Surah Maryam. Kelly and his band bring a ’60s-fired energy to “Christmas,” an Australian song of longing for home by brothers Chris and Wes Harrington, and Linda Bull tears up the place on “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home),” a song originally recorded by Darlene Love on Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You.

 

Kelly explains, “There were so many songs I wanted to have on there. Having the wider frame for this album allowed me to have the songs talking to each other, the way that Arthur McBride has echoes in the Brazilian song “In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day.” There is a Hebrew hymn, an Arabic poem, folk songs, classical songs, rock songs. Then the fun, and the challenge, is to get all those elements to work together.”

 

“I hadn’t even thought about putting ‘…Gravy’ on the record but when I talked to friends, they all said, ‘Really? You’re not? Just do another version.’ Our live version has evolved from the original recording, so we said, ‘Let’s lay it down and see what we think.’ We have been doing it forever, so it was recorded in one or two takes. It’s 25 years since the song first came out so that’s another reason to have it here. Note that Peter Luscombe played on the original, too.”

 

The BBC describes Gravy Day, December 21^st, as a date “deemed increasingly worth celebrating.” “Gravyday,” “the 21st of December,” and “Paul Kelly” have become trending terms on Twitter, with many posts playing off How to Make Gravy’s narrative. The song’s popularity has inspired media outlets to investigate the protagonist’s possible back story and the key question in the song: “Who’s gonna make the gravy?”  Several years ago, Kelly began to acknowledge the trend by hosting Gravy Day concerts.

 

PAUL KELLY – CHRISTMAS TRAIN

Track Listing:

1. Nativity

2. Silent Night

3. Swing Around the Sun

4. Christmas

5. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) 

6. Little Drummer Boy

7. Arthur McBride

8. The Virgin Mary Had One Son

9. Tapu Te P? (O Holy Night)

10. Shalom Aleichem

11. The Oxen

12. The Friendly Beasts

13. Three Drovers

14. Christmas Must Be Tonight

15. Surah Maryam

16. Coventry Carol

17. In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day

18. How to Make Gravy

19. Christmas Train

20. Come Thou Font of Every Blessing

21. Intonent Hodie

22. What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Pre-sale link: https://paulk.lnk.to/christmastrain 

LISTEN TO BUFFALO NICHOLS’ SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM    OUT NOW VIA FAT POSSUM   On Tour Now Supporting Drive-By Truckers,  December Dates with St. Paul and the Broken Bones

“Nichols’ spartan, self-titled debut album showcases not just his mesmeric fingerpicking, but also deep political beliefs…” - Mojo   “...Buffalo Nichols makes waves with his debut album” - Austin Monthly   “...one of the most promising debut records to come out in quite some time”  - No Depression   "His compelling self-titled debut album introduces a visceral new force in the genre: to spare but endlessly dextrous guitar playing, Nichols bends the blues into new shapes, in the process examining African-American history and the issues and attitudes that still dog the communities he grew up in. A real find" - The Sunday Times (UK)   “The recordings...feature little more than his honeyed voice and bluesy guitar. But that simplicity, and vulnerability, make them special.” - The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   “Exceptional” - Americana Highways     The self-titled debut album from Buffalo Nichols, Fat Possum’s first solo blues signing in nearly 20 years, arrived in stores last week to great press from Austin Monthly, Bandcamp, No Depression, Premier Guitar (‘Hooked’ series), Uncut (UK), Mojo (UK), The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and more—including an interview and live session with WNYC’s Soundcheck. The album’s release follows singles “How To Love,” “Lost & Lonesome,” and “Back On Top,” which have been earning Nichols additional early praise from Rolling Stone Country, Guitar World, and more. Listen to Buffalo Nichols now HERE.   The Austin,TX-based Carl “Buffalo” Nichols is currently on the road in support of Drive-By Truckers as well as playing a handful of solo shows throughout, and he performs next tonight at MOTR Pub in Cincinnati, OH. He also recently announced a run of dates with St. Paul and the Broken Bones in early December. A current itinerary is below.   Since his earliest infatuations with guitar, Nichols has asked himself the same question: How can I bring the blues of the past into the future? After cutting his teeth between a Baptist church and bars in Milwaukee, it was a globetrotting trip through West Africa and Europe during a creative down period that began to reveal the answer.  “Part of my intent, making myself more comfortable with this release, is putting more Black stories into the genres of folk and blues,” Nichols explains. “Listening to this record, I want more Black people to hear themselves in this music that is truly theirs.” That desire is embodied in his self-titled debut album, composed largely of demos and studio sessions recorded between Wisconsin and Texas.  Born in Houston and raised in Milwaukee’s predominantly Black North end, the guitar was Nichols’ saving grace as a young man. The instrument captured his fascination, and provided him with an outlet for self-expression and discovery in isolation. A friend invited the teenage guitarist to church for a gig and the opportunity proved to be Nichols’ much-needed breakthrough to music circles in the area. But over the following years, he began to feel overextended, and abandoned the demanding grind of a supporting role in nearly ten Milwaukee scene bands, none of which bore his vision as a lead performer. Stints in college and in the workforce led him overseas, where the appreciation of African-American folkways lit a renewed spark in Nichols. It was the bustling of jazz in places like the working class areas of Ukraine, or in Berlin cafes where expatriate Black Americans routinely treat fans to an enchanting evening of blues, that would lead to his a-ha moment. Nichols returned home to America, meditating on his own place in the music that holds the country’s truest values and rawest emotions between bar and measure. “Before this trip, it was hard for me to find that link between all these blues records I heard and people who are living right now. I figured out it’s not a huge commercial thing, but it still has value. So, I came home and started playing the blues more seriously, doing stuff with just me and my guitar,” Nichols says. Nichols admits that anger and pain are realities that color the conversations and the autobiographical anecdotes behind his observational, narrative-based approach to songwriting. However, with his lyricism on Buffalo Nichols, he intends to provide a perspective that doesn’t lean heavily into stereotypes, generalizations or microaggressions regarding race, class and culture. The album sees Nichols wrestling with prescient topics, such as empathy and forgiveness, regret and loss, and the pitfalls of lives lived too close to the edge. At the forefront of each song is Nichols’ rich voice and evocative, virtuosic guitar-playing, augmented on half of the nine tracks by a simple, cadent drum line. While acknowledging the joy, exuberance and triumph contained in the blues, Nichols looks intently at the genre’s origins, which harken back to complicated and dire circumstances for Black Americans. With this in mind, Nichols says there is a missing link, which he’s often used as a compass: Black stories aren’t being told responsibly in the genre anymore. To begin changing that, Buffalo Nichols gets the chance to tell his own story in the right way. Read Buffalo Nichols’ full bio/download photos and cover artwork HERE.     Additional Praise for Buffalo Nichols   “With virtuosic guitar-playing and evocative singing, Carl ‘Buffalo’ Nichols returns Black stories to folk and blues.” - Bandcamp, ‘New & Notable’   “Anyone who fears the blues’ demise would do well to keep their eyes on Nichols – with guitarists like him carrying the torch and moving the genre into the 21st century, the blues’ll be just fine.”  - Guitar World   “...Nichols emerges as a sharp, succinct, inventive and insightful songwriter, one who can convey complex ideas with just a few words.” - Uncut (UK), 9/10   “...an aching number that lives up to its down-and-out title with a stripped-down arrangement of fingerstyle and slide guitar, plus Nichols’ world-weary delivery of his existential blues.”  - Rolling Stone Country, about “Lost & Lonesome”   “An isolated retreat, ‘Lost and Lonesome’ finds Buffalo Nichols, Fat Possum Records' newest blues signee, wandering in the unfamiliar and grappling with dark, desolate truths. Six-string acoustics wade deep in the Mississippi Delta and reverberate along the pastoral countryside, carving through its barren back roads.” - Austin Chronicle   “And we believe Nichols will soon be blues royalty...Get to know this future legend”  - The Revue, about “Back On Top”     Buffalo Nichols, credit: Merrick Ales

Buffalo Nichols tour dates: 10/20 - Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub 10/21/21 - Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre* 10/22/21 - Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewing* 10/23/21 - Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit* 11/3/21 - Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl* 11/4/21 - Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl* 11/5/21 - Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl* 11/6/21 - Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl* 11/8/21 - Wilmington, DE – The Queen* 11/9/21 - Washington, DC – Songbyrd 11/10/21 - Winston-Salem, NC – The Ramkat* 11/11/21 - Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall* 11/12/21 - Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse* 11/13/21 - Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse* 11/15/21 - Little Rock, AR – Revolution Music Room* 11/16/21 - Denton, TX – Andy’s 11/17/21 - Dallas, TX – Granada Theater* 11/18/21 - Austin, TX – Scoot Inn* 11/19/21 - Austin, TX – Scoot Inn* 11/20/21 - New Orleans, LA – Tipitina's* 11/21/21 - Lafayette, LA – Acadiana Center for the Arts* 12/02/21 - Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre** 12/03/21 - Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre** 12/04/21 - Columbia, SC – The Senate** *supporting Drive-By Truckers ** supporting St. Paul and the Broken Bones   www.buffalo-nichols.com  www.facebook.com/BuffaloNicholsMusic  www.twitter.com/BuffaloNichols  www.instagram.com/buffalonicholsmusic  www.fatpossum.com