recalled.' In December 1957, writes Light, Simone 'went to New York and recorded thirteen songs backed by bassist Jimmy Bond and drummer Tootie Heath [...] The selections were essentially the songs she played as her set at the time but, given the time restraints of a studio recording, without her extended improvisations'. Mauro Boscarol (of the Nina Simone Timeline) writes that the album was recorded in late 1957, possibly December, but the precise date is not known; and that the session lasted 13 hours and 14 songs were recorded. Cohodas agrees with the problem about designating the correct date, and corroborates 14 as the number of tracks recorded. Given that the session was the only one Simone ever recorded for Bethlehem, the songs eventually released show that there were, as Boscarol and Cohodas claim, 14 tracks recorded at the session. At the time of the recording session, Simone was in her mid-20s and still aspiring to be a classical concert pianist, so she immediately sold the rights for the album to Bethlehem for $3,000 (equal to US$ in ). According to Simone's later account, she didn't really enjoy the session, no more than her gigs at the time, as she 'still considered herself on a musical detour dictated by financial necessity'; upon returning to Philadelphia, she 'immersed herself in Beethoven for three days straight'. The Bethlehem deal would eventually cost her royalty profits of more than a million dollars. Release Simone was also dissatisfied by the time it took for Bethlehem to release the album and the lack of effort the record company took in promoting her. However, unbeknownst to Simone, Bethlehem was in financial trouble. 'Wildi found himself in a cash crunch, and in the middle of 1958 he sold a half interest in Bethlehem to Syd Nathan, who ran King Records out of Cincinnati'; furthermore there were to be 'professional differences between Wildi and Nathan'. All these factors led to disruption at Bethlehem, and effected the release of Simone's album significantly. The album was first announced around a year after it had been recorded in Billboard magazine in December 1958. But nothing happened. Then in the 10 January 1959 issue of Cash Box, another premier American music industry trade magazine of the time, the 'Record Ramblings' column posted news out of Philadelphia: 'Now that the Xmas rush is over the entire wax business in town is looking forward,