An essential collection for Simone completists, containing four songs left over from her career-launching debut album "Little Girl Blue". This album was released in 1959 without Simone's knowledge after she left Bethlehem Records. Reappearing here from the debut is Simone's only charting single "I Loves You, Porgy", a Billboard Top 20 hit. Simone shares time on this album equally with "her friends" Chris Connor and Carmen McRae who each contribute four songs.

The blind Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu was an international star; an original stylist with prodigious technique, he was one of the foremost hard bop pianists. Dedicated to Tete’s daughter, Blues for Nuria is a stunning original that mixes a taste of Monk, freewheeling dissonance, and the Catalonian’s turbulent hard bop style.