LOTL Welcomes Morgan James :Debut new CD' Morgan James Live

LOTL WELCOMES MORGAN JAMES :DEBUT HER NEW ALBUM" MORGAN JAMES LIVE A TRIBUTE TO NINA SIMONE

Recorded at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (an intimate jazz club nestled within New York City’s Lincoln Center), Morgan James Live features James’s stirring renditions of standards from the repertoire of Nina Simone. Not only embracing Simone’s raw, heady passion, James channels the sparkling eclecticism that made the High Priestess of Soul a key influence in cultivating her own singing style. “For a long time I wasn’t sure what to do with the fact that I’ve got this gigantic voice that doesn’t quite match how I look, so I ended up trying out lots of different things to find my way,” says James. And in that ceaseless experimentation, she adds, James drew great inspiration from Simone’s unwavering artistic integrity. “Nina refused to be pigeon-holed into any one genre, and she wasn’t setting out to impress anyone,” says James. “That sort of purity and lack of showboating means so much to me as a musician.”

All throughout Morgan James Live, James infuses her interpretations of Simone’s songs with a comparable purity. Whether tearing through bluesy stompers like “Trouble In Mind” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out” or a hushed heartbreaker like the Billie Holiday-penned “Don’t Explain,” James brings both unadulterated emotionalism and seamless musicianship to her performance.