Kim Nalley - She Put A Spell On Me: Kim Nalley Sings Nina Simone (2006)

Kim Nalley (vocals) Tammy Hall (piano) Greg Skaff (guitar) Michael Zisman (bass) Kent Bryson (drums).

"Nina Simone was a singer, a social commentator, and a fighter. Often called the High Priestess of Soul, she was revered for her command of folk, blues, protest songs, and show tunes. So is it any wonder that Kim Nalley's CD "She Put a Spell on Me: Kim Sings Nina Simone" has been so popular? Nalley, whose hand in reopening the North Beach hot spot Jazz at Pearl's has made her into something of a hero in her own right, seems the perfect choice to interpret and pay tribute to the late, great Dr. Simone." -San Francisco Weekly.

"I've always been influenced by Nina Simone, " Nalley says, "by her singing and her absolutely amazing piano playing. And I've always been moved by her music and by her insistence on speaking out about civil rights and women's rights."

She Put A Spell On Me: Kim Nalley Sings Nina Simone, has been shortlisted for Grammy Award consideration in the Best Jazz Vocal category (2006). Active members of the Recording Academy vote from among the CDs on this list to select the five nominees in each category that will go on to compete for the Grammy.

She Put A Spell On Me was recorded live in 2005 during a five-night run at Jazz at Pearl's, the classy San Francisco nightclub that Nalley co-owns with her husband, Steve Sheraton. The CD immediately attracted glowing reviews, not least for its impressive range of material. Nalley takes on difficult and controversial material such as "Mississippi Goddamn," Simone's protest of anti-civil rights terrorism, moving jazz ballads like Irving Berlin's "You Can Have Him, " African chant in "See-Line Woman" and well-known folk tunes such as "House for the Rising Sun." The degree to which Nalley succeeded in capturing the essence of Nina Simone's spirit, while remaining true to her own musical heart and style, has now been made clear once again by this well-deserved recognition from the Grammy Awards nominators for She Put A Spell On Me: Kim Nalley Sings Nina Simone.