''Pastel Blues'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

, released in October 1965, by

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

. The album was recorded in 1964 and 1965 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and peaked at number 139 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, as well as number 8 on the

Hot R&B LPs Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart. The album was re-issued in November 2020 by

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * ''The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee ho ...

and

Universal Music Enterprises Universal Music Enterprises (UME, stylized as UMe) is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. It includes Hip-O Records, Universal Chronicles, and UM3 or UMC (which is the international division of the company). Under various divisions, ...

as part of their "audiophile-grade" Acoustic Sounds series.

Critical reception

Richie Unterberger of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 and called it "one of Nina Simone's more subdued mid-'60s LPs, putting the emphasis on her piano rather than band arrangements." He added, "By far the most impressive track is her frantic ten-minute rendition of the traditional 'Sinnerman,' an explosive tour de force that dwarfs everything else on the album." Joe Muggs of ''

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...

'' said, "This is the blues as both urban and urbane, delivered with full knowledge of and passion for its history, and with all the guts and power that white rockers could ever muster, but with all the finesse, sophistication and abstraction that her Juilliard classical training could bring to bear on it." In 2008, ''

Cokemachineglow Cokemachineglow was a Canadian webzine dedicated mainly to music criticism, though it also featured articles about local music scenes. It was founded in 2002 and closed down permanently at the end of 2015. In 2006, it was described as one of "the ...

'' included it on the "30 'Other' Albums of the 1960s" list. In 2012,

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

included it on her "25 Favorite Albums" list. In 2017, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' placed it at number 21 on the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s" list.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. *

– piano, vocals, arrangement *

Al Schackman Alvin Schackman (born October 5, 1933) is an American jazz guitarist and arranger, most noted for his long association with Nina Simone as her accompanist from 1957 to 2000. Biography Born in New York, Schackman grew up in the Catskills before mov ...

– guitar, harmonica * Rudy Stevenson – guitar, flute *

Lisle Atkinson Lisle Arthur Atkinson (sometimes "Lysle") (born September 16, 1940, New York, NY; died March 25, 2019, New York, NY) was an American jazz double-bassist. Career Atkinson played violin from the age of four and switched to stand-up bass at 12 years ...

– double bass * Bobby Hamilton – drums

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1965 albums Nina Simone albums Philips Records albums Albums produced by Hal Mooney