Nina Simone and Her Friends is an album released in 1960 by the Bethlehem Records label, that compiled songs by jazz singers Nina Simone, Carmen McRae and Chris Connor. All three artists had left the label and signed with other companies by the time Bethlehem released this album. The numbers by Simone - with the exception of her 1959 hit single "I Loves You, Porgy" were "left overs" from the recording sessions for her 1959 debut album Little Girl Blue and released without her knowledge. The tracks by Connor and McRae had already been issued together this way, as Bethlehem's Girlfriends, in 1956, accompanied by the debut recording session of Julie London.
Notes on songs
"I Loves You, Porgy" had already appeared on Little Girl Blue (1959) and as a single of the same year where it became a Billboard Chart top 20 hit.
"African Mailman", is an instrumental song by Simone.
