Nina Simone- R.I.P.

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jimac51

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I'm putting the discussion of Ms. Simone here primarily since she was first and formost a jazz singer and pianist. There are places all over the web to read an obit or an interview-just pick one(or better, a few) in a Google search. Nina was one of those voices that made the phones light up on Philly radio,primarily to hear something from her first album on Bethlehem records. That album alone contained her memorable performance of "I Loves You,Porgy","Little Girl Blue",which weaved the melody to "Good King Wensaslas", and (on the CD reissue)a haunting interpretation of "He's Got The Whole World In His Hand". Years later she would act out a lengthy piece called "Four Women"-each about a different woman of color and her role in life. Timely enough,Verve will bring a box set of her Phillips recordings in May,entitled "Four Women". Truly ahead of her time. The absolute embodiment of soul-even Aretha learned from her. I remember when the film "Point of No Return"was released(I have never seen this film) and numbers of young white suburban women would come into our store not only for the soundtrack but to explore Nina(evidently a fairly violent act by the heroine is shown in the film while Nina sings). We usually only carried one or two(and that was three more than the mall stores were carrying)but soon a dozen titles had enough bounce to stock for a year or so(video and cable gave this movie a long life). I hope those women are still spinning Nina and learning about being a strong, independent woman in the world. Nina may be at rest but I doubt that it is in peace. Mac
 
She was very demanding of her audience when I saw her in 1970 (at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival). She fairly glowered at the comfortable, well-dressed patrons, bringing that anger, fury, and passion to her performance -- which was riveting and had everyone standing at the end. I've read that she was a very difficult artist when dealing with record labels and, especially, concert promoters. Of the many great female vocalists I've seen (Ella, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Ruth Brown, and Betty Carter), Nina Simone is THE one who left me trembling afterwards.
 
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