High Priestess of Soul

High Priestess of Soul
Studio album by
Nina Simone
Released1967
RecordedNew York, 1965–1966
GenreJazz, blues, folk, R&B
Length35:51
LabelPhilips
ProducerHal Mooney
Nina Simone chronology
Wild Is the Wind
(1966) 		High Priestess of Soul
(1967) 		Nina Simone Sings the Blues
(1967)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Pitchfork9.2/10[3]

High Priestess of Soul is a studio album by jazz singer, pianist and songwriter Nina Simone. The songs are accompanied by a large band directed and arranged by Hal Mooney. The album contains pop songs (such as "Don't You Pay Them No Mind") and African American gospel and folk related songs written by Simone herself (such as "Take Me to the Water" and "Come Ye"). After this album title –an attempt to broaden her appeal by management execs– Nina Simone was sometimes titled “the high priestess of soul”, although she completely rejected the title herself because it placed a label on her as an artist. However, according to her daughter, Lisa, she never hated that moniker.[4]

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  3. ^ Wallace, Carvell (30 July 2016). "Nina Simone : High Priestess of Soul". Pitchfork. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  4. ^ [1] Archived 2014-04-27 at the Wayback Machine Simone: I never heard Mommy say she hated that moniker.