Although she died in 2003, Nina Simone has been screwed over again, this time posthumously, with the release of this album, which is out of copyright so her estate will not collect royalties. There’s a touch of déjà vu about all this. Little Girl Blue was originally released in 1958 as Jazz in an Exclusive Side Street Club for Bethlehem Records, to whom she sold the album rights outright for $3,000, rather than opting for a smaller advance against royalties. It was a deal that ultimately cost her in excess of $1 million in lost royalties. ‘I Loves You Porgy’ from the album became a national hit in the summer of 1959, selling over a million copies (her only Billboard Top Twenty success in the United States), prompting a re-release of the album as Little Girl Blue. Another track from the album, ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ was a sleeper until it was used in a TV advert for Chanel No 5 perfume, which prompted its release as a single by Charly Records in the UK in 1985, entering the Singles Chart on 31 October, and peaking at number 5. It became one of Simone’s biggest hits in 29 years and made the top 10 in several European charts, peaking at number one in the Dutch Top 40. What is interesting about this album is that her great talent arrived fully formed on her debut LP. Lesser commented, perhaps, is her undoubted ability as a jazz pianist – while ‘Central Park Blues’ and ‘Good Bait’ are instrumentals that feature her improvisational skills, her piano playing, both in solo and accompaniment, on, for example, ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’, is simply top-drawer.

Note too her classy re-arrangements of Duke Ellington’s ‘Mood Indigo’ or Rodgers or Hammerstein’s ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, two examples that speak of her shrewd musical mind able to reframe well known pieces in a striking and original way. Ultimately, however, her instrumental skill would remain in the shadow of her voice, one of the wonders of 20th century vernacular singing.