EDITORS’ NOTES

Only one composition by Simone was featured on her debut LP, but the creative invention she put on display amounted to a bold statement of purpose from an original. Here, she gives Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” an uptempo rethink (delivering charging piano lines as well as bluesy vocals). And who else could squeeze a Bach-inspired solo into “Love Me or Leave Me” and make it work? Drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath is peerlessly swinging when accompanying Simone, and she proves her piano chops on the instrumental closer, “Central Park,” which points toward future triumphs.