Nina Simone

It surprises me, therefore, that several of my texts on Jazz do not make mention of Nina Simone as a Jazz singer and musician.  All these above-mentioned facets of Jazz can be heard in the piano playing, compositions and vocals of Nina Simone.  Listening to her music is, I believe, essential to the appreciation of Jazz.  There are, happily, brief entries on her in “The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz” and “Jazz – The Rough Guide.”  So she does make the grade as a Jazz musician in their estimation, and to me that's a good thing.  She embodies Jazz through and through.

Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 1933.  She lived exactly 70 years and two months.  She passed away in Carry-le-Rouet, France on April 21st, 2003.  In her three score plus ten plus two she became renowned as a songwriter, pianist, singer and civil rights activist. She disliked categorization because of her versatility in Jazz, folk, blues, soul, R & B, gospel and pop.  Like Orchestra Baobab from Senegal in West Africa she was a true “specialist in all styles,” and she became known for her verve and passion as “The High Priestess of Soul.”

Nina was one of eight children.  She started playing the piano at her church, and before long she was displaying superb talent on this instrument.  She made her concert debut at age ten, and just before the performance her parents, who had been seated in the first row, were told they had to move to the back.  Nina refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front of the hall! Yes, she was a civil rights warrior from that age. At age seventeen Nina moved to Pennsylvania, where she pursued her dream to become a classical pianist at New York's Juilliard School of Music.  Later she went for an interview to further study the piano at the Curtis Institute.  She was turned down, and Nina was always convinced that her ethnicity and gender were the reasons for her rejection.  This incident also helped to fuel her hatred of the institutionalized racism in the United States, which I am sure was experienced in its various forms by all black Jazz musicians.

To maintain herself Nina began to play at a bar and grill in Atlantic City.  The owner told her that she would have to sing as well.  In 1954 she adopted the name “Nina Simone,” so that her mother, a strict Methodist minister, would not find out that she was playing “the devil's music.”  But it was this performance background that established Nina as a major new talent.  She sang and played an eclectic mixture of classical music, Jazz and blues, and by 1958 she recorded a version of the Gershwin song “I Loves You Porgy” from the musical “Porgy and Bess.” Her debut album “Little Girl Blue” soon followed.  Nina Simone had arrived.  The pity is, however, that she would never benefit greatly from her first LP.  She sold the rights for only $3,000.00, thereby missing out on huge royalties, mainly due to the re-release of the hit tune from this recording, “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” in the 1980's.

In the 1960's Nina became a major performing and recording artist, with a string of successful albums on the Colpix and other record labels.  True to form Nina insisted on full artistic control of her music.  She didn't much care about having a recording contract, but she was so good that the companies let her have her way.  She continued to knock her own thing throughout her career and her private life.

In 1964 Nina switched to the Dutch recording label Philips.  There was a switch too in most of the material she performed and recorded.  And needless to say her militancy and strident stance against racism and discrimination came to the forefront.  In response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the four black children in a church in Birmingham, Alabama, she composed “Mississippi Goddam,” which was boycotted in some southern states.  Nina also performed and spoke at many civil rights events like the Selma and Montgomery marches with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  And among many other civil rights songs, she produced “To Be Young Gifted And Black,” which became a civil rights anthem of the 1960's. Notably, Nina was more of the Malcolm X, radical and militant school, as opposed to that of Dr. King's school of non-violent resistance.

In 1970 Nina left the United States for Barbados, expecting that her husband/manager Andrew Stroud would contact her as to when she would be performing again.  Stroud interpreted her departure as the end of the marriage.  When Nina returned to the U.S. she learned that she was wanted for unpaid taxes.  So she turned around and went back.  During her years in Barbados she had a long affair with Errol Barrow, the Prime Minister.  And she made good friends with Miriam Makeba, who convinced her to go to Liberia.  Later on she lived in Europe and finally settled in France from 1992, the same year as the publication of her autobiography “I Put A Spell On You.”  Nina had only one child, Lisa Celeste, who now goes by the stage name Simone, and who is now coming into her own with a first Jazz record.

 In her personal and professional life Nina had a reputation for being touchy and difficult. She actually shot at two persons (wounding one) – a neighbour's son whom she said was disturbing her concentration; the other a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties.  It was not publicly known until after her death that she suffered from bipolar disorder, as a small cadre of close associates kept her condition quite hush hush.  I believe it is fitting also to mention that only two days before her death, the Curtis Institute, the school that had turned Nina down, awarded her an honorary diploma.  What a vindication!  

Nina Simone was an enormously talented woman.  Her regal demeanor, huge talent and commanding stage presence ensured her success and popularity, as well as her influence on so many singers and artists.  As well, her mastery of classical and Jazz piano enabled her to accompany herself.  I like to describe her voice as deep soul.  It had a resonance and timbre that captured her audiences and held them spellbound.  Her emotional range and “raw power,” as the authors of the Rough Guide put it, made her “a striking performer and a star of international standing.”   

The slice of Nina's 40 album discography which I am able to share begins with two LP's, “The Amazing Nina Simone” and “Nina Simone At Town Hall.”  “The Amazing Nina Simone” was only her third full-length record.  It features a mix of material that showcases her growing ability.  My choices are her rendition of the standard “Stompin' At The Savoy” and her own composition “Children Go Where I Send You.” This one is a rousing gospel number.  I would love to hear St. Luke's Methodist Primary School Choir do it in the Children's Festival of the Arts.  I'm certain that it would become a favorite.

On September 15th, 1959 the twenty-six year old Nina performed a memorable concert at Town Hall.  I can safely say that this album is my favorite Nina Simone set, and I consider it a coming out party for her.  In a flowing white gown and sitting in front of a grand piano, Nina delivers a knockout!  Her powerful and percussive piano style is a great match for the songs she chooses here.  “Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair” displays her soft and gentle side.  And then she jazzes it up with “Exactly Like You.”  If I had to pick one song, apart from the all-time mega-hit “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” as my quintessential Nina piece, it would have to be “Exactly Like You.”  It swings mightily, with an upbeat piano solo between verses and Nina's improvisation on the melody that is entirely her own.  I also enjoy the instrumental, bluesy original “Under The Lowest” and the instrumental and vocal versions of the Gershwin perennial  “Summertime.”

In 1962 Nina recorded “Nina Simone Sings Duke Ellington.”  She more than does justice to some well known as well as more obscure Ellington compositions.  “I Got It Bad” is done in ballad style.  But “Hey Buddy Bolden,” Ellington's tribute to the first hero of early Jazz, is given a blues-drenched treatment with voice and piano.  The swing of “You Better Know It,” with its finger snapping, exciting piano accompaniment, reminds me of “Exactly Like You.”  Also, I think Duke would be proud of “The Gal From Joe's” and “It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).” 

Nina appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1963.  To me the recording of her performance there proves that she could have been a classical concert pianist.  Her rendition of “The Theme From Sampson and Delilah” is a piece worthy of Beethoven or Bach.  Her versatility was much appreciated by the audience, as one can hear from the applause.  And Nina also does her own composition “If I Knew” as well as the Webster/Livingston composition “The Twelfth Of Never.”  The whole set seems to have been very well received.

The British compilation “My Baby Just Cares For Me” features some of Nina's greatest hits. Of course anyone familiar with the title track will know that its galloping piano rhythm and syncopation along with Nina's soulful voice are in the truest sense inimitable.  As mentioned, this song was first released on Nina's very first record, but it hit the popular music charts in 1987 when it was used in an advertisement for Chanel perfume.  Over the years it has been a “go to” number in my Jazz radio programs due to its infectious beat and melody.  “Love Me Or Leave Me” is just as upbeat and rollicking as “My Baby...,” and it is hard to beat Nina's version of Duke Ellington's “Mood Indigo” for impeccable swing at a fast pace, the essence of foot-tapping pleasure.   “I Loves You Porgy,” “Don't Smoke In Bed,” and “Little Girl Blue” are pieces that get the signature Nina Simone treatment, as do the more modern “Work Song” by Cannonball Adderley and “Angel Of The Morning” by C. Taylor.

My last featured recording is also a compilation of Nina's 1960's and '70's hits that I picked up on a visit to Taiwan.  “The Backlash Blues,”  “I Shall Be Released,” and “I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl” are some of her protest years hits.  Also featured is one of her big “pop” hits “Ain't Got No – I Got Life” from the Broadway musical “Hair.”  And a mention must be given to “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free,” which I danced to as liturgical dancer and member of Sister Thea Bowman's Hallelujah Singers at Viterbo College in 1978.                           

A special pride of place has to be given to Nina's moving tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Composed by her bass player, “Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)” was performed at the Westbury Music Fair by Nina three days after King's murder.  She dedicated her entire performance that evening to Dr. King's memory.  This is the selection that gives you “cold seed.”  Nina's delivery brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it.  I think that “Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)” by Nina should be played on every anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. Lest we forget.

Just a few of the musicians who acknowledge their debt of gratitude to Nina are Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, John Lennon, Donny Hathaway, David Bowie and Elton John.  As a specialist in all styles Nina has maintained a large fan base.  Her music has also had a cult following for many years, and she continues to inspire older and younger musicians alike.  A little Nina Simone is essential in any Jazz collection.  And I encourage listeners and enthusiasts to visit several Nina Simone websites, all of which are well presented and full of detailed information.

But most of all I insist that you get a little bit of the sugar that is the one and only Nina Simone in your musical bowl.  I guarantee that you will be hooked as soon as you hear “Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead),”  “Exactly Like You,” and “My Baby Just Cares For Me.”      

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