Gifted & Black

Roger Nupie, in a personal communication with The Nina Simone Database, who suggest these may be Simone's earliest existing recordings and may have been "made in Philadelphia 1955(?)", states that there is "no info" about the date, location or musicians. He goes on to state that the album was "originally not intended for release" and that Andrew Stroud, Simone's manager, added strings arranged by Monk Higgins to eight tracks and released them as "Gifted and Black" in 1970.[2] Another source indicates that the album was possibly recorded in 1967[3] at RPM Studios, Los Angeles.[1]

Rolling Stone said in a contemporary review: "It's not that this album, recorded around 1967 (?), is misrepresentative of what Nina is currently up to, and does a disservice to an exceptional artist's career. It's not that the strings, which are dubbed over her piano trio are in poor, nay, bad taste. It's not that it sounds as though the recording mikes were placed down the hall from the studio, in the toilet, perhaps. It's not that "The Thrill is Gone" is absolutely the most embarrassing musical miscarriage I've ever heard. No, it's not any of these at all. It's just that this album is pisspoor."[3] However, although Richard Mortifoglio for AllMusic called the sound "decidedly lo-fi", he also considered it "something of a lost cabaret masterpiece ... as if she was channeling the great cabaret artist Mabel Mercer, reminding us that apart from her deserved reputation as a socially significant African-American artist, Nina Simone was also an outstanding interpreter of the Great American Songbook."[4]

• Nina Simone – Arranger, Composer, Primary Artist
• Bennie Benjamin – Composer
• Gloria Caldwell – Composer
• Henry Creamer – Composer
• Richie Havens – Composer
• Fletcher Hendersor – Composer
• Jan Hendin – Composer
• Weldon Irvine – Composer
• Leroy Kirkland – Composer
• Turner Layton – Composer
• Galt MacDermot – Composer
• Sol Marcus – Composer