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- Date Released: January 1, 1978
- Genre: Jazz
- Label: Epic/Associated/Legacy
- Copyright: (P) 1978 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
More of Simone's patented mix of art-song, soul ballad and jazz vamp
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We Say...
"Trust the art, not the artist," someone smart once said.
They might as well have been talking about Baltimore, an album loathed by its creator but liked by many listeners of taste.
Tellingly, it's the sole album the notoriously ornery Simone ever cut for the jazz label CTI. She had no control over its content, and so disavowed it shortly after its release in 1978. Perhaps the only things Simone has to be mildly embarrassed about are some of the arrangements which, unlike most in her elastic cannon, peg the disc to its time. Whiffs of late '70s disco funk mar the work, as does the ill-advised move to cover Hall & Oates' then huge "Rich Girl."
Of course, Simone made a career out of offering boldly re-thought versions of popular songs, turning familiar pieces into her own patented mix of art-song, soul ballad and jazz vamp. The best covers here receive that individual stamp.
The title track, written by Randy Newman, suffered a satirist's distance in the author's context. But Simone sings it from the inside, not only capturing a city down on its luck but adding a subtext of racial strife in her haunted and frustrated vocal.
Simone turns existential in a revelatory run at Judy Collins' "My Father." The dreaminess in her voice, as well as the shower of strings in the arrangement, gives the piece a surreal quality that nails its will to sweep through several generations of experience.
While the production on the album can show a heavy hand, Simone's erudite piano work pokes through on several signature songs.
By Simone's towering standards, Baltimore will never hold a capitol place. But, if nothing else, it proves, once and for all, that an interpretive genius like Simone can only go so wrong. -
They Say...
After an uncharacteristic (for her) four-year hiatus from recording, Nina Simone returned to the fringes of the pop world with Baltimore, the only album she recorded for the CTI label. While it bears some of the musical stylings of the period -- light reggae inflections that hint of Steely Dan's "Haitian Divorce" -- the vocals are unmistakably Simone's. Like many of her albums, the content is wildly uneven; Simone simply covers too much ground and there's too little attention paid to how songs flow together. As a result, a robust torch piano ballad like "Music for Lovers" is followed immediately by one of Simone's more awkward moments, an attempt to keep up with a jaunty rhythm track on a cover of Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl." Still, one must give her credit for always being provocative in her cover song choices, as she clearly scores on the Randy Newman-penned title track and a dramatic reading of Judy Collins' "My Father." Her voice throughout is in fine form, even when she phones it in on the album-closing traditional gospel tunes, but arranger David Matthews is a mismatch for her: He blows the arrangements with excessive string overlays and needlessly blaring background vocals. Simone herself all but disavowed the album shortly after its release, testament to her eternally contrarian, iconic nature. Despite her misgivings, though, Baltimore is an occasionally spellbinding if erratic album, a challenging and worthwhile listen for people ready to dip into the lesser-known entries in Nina Simone's vast catalog.
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10 Total Tracks, 37:06 Total Length
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Credits
- Nina Simone - Arranger // Nina Simone - Keyboards // Nina Simone - Vocals // Nina Simone - Main Performer // Chuck Israels - Bass (Upright) // Ray Simpson - Vocals (Background) // David Nadien - Violin // David Matthews - Piano // David Matthews - Arranger // Jonathan Abramowitz - Cello // Lamar Alsop - Viola // Joshie Armstead - Vocals (Background) // John Beal - Bass // Alfred Brown - Viola // Joe Cohn - Assistant Engineer // Didier C. Deutsch - Reissue Producer // Max Ellen - Violin // Barry Finclair - Violin // Babi Floyd - Vocals (Background) // Jerry Friedman - Guitar // Harry Glickman - Violin // Milt Grayson - Vocals (Background) // Harry Lookofsky - Violin // Gary King - Bass // Will Lee - Bass // Charles Libove - Violin // James Madison - Drums // Nicky Marrero - Percussion // Charles McCracken - Cello // Deborah McDuffie - Vocals (Background) // Homer Mensch - Bass (Upright) // Marvin Morgenstern - Violin // Andy Newmark - Drums // Albertine Robinson - Vocals (Background) // Al Schackman - Piano // Al Schackman - Director // Al Schackman - Tambourine // Alan Shulman - Cello // Richard Sortomme - Violin // Maretha Stewart - Vocals (Background) // Creed Taylor - Producer // Creed Taylor - Liner Notes // David Palmer - Engineer // David Nathan - Liner Notes // Herbert Sorkin - Violin // Emanuel Vardi - Viola // Chris Herles - Digital Mastering // Sibbi Chalawick - Design // Betsy Palumbo - Coordination // Frank Floyd - Vocals (Background)
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Other Details
- Instruments:
- Guitar //
- Percussion //
- Piano //
- Violin //
- Bass (Vocal) //
- Drums //
- Keyboards
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