Album: Barb Jungr, Just Like A Woman (Hymn To Nina) (Linn)

A vocal stylist acclaimed for her interpretations of Jacques Brel and Bob Dylan, Barb Jungr here turns her attention to Nina Simone, with an album drawn from the late pianist’s repertoire.

The most striking pieces may be the medleys with which Jungr brings a trad-folk tone to, particularly the seamless seguing of “One Morning In May” with the old Steppenwolf drug song “The Pusher”.

Oddly for a Dylan specialist, her reggae-styled “Just Like A Woman” grates inappropriately, though her “Ballad Of Hollis Brown”, with the delicate madness of the piano part evoking the protagonist’s descent into despair, is much more effective.

It’s all brought to a close with a rousing, exultant blues arrangement of “Feeling Good” that pays true homage to Nina’s feisty spirit.

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