Jazz Articles about Nina Simone

About Nina Simone

Radio & Podcasts

New Releases Plus Birthday Shoutouts to Harold Arlen, Nina Simone and Nancy Wilson

by Mary Foster Conklin
February 28, 2022

This broadcast presents new releases from vocalist Liz Terrell, guitarist Ron Jackson and pianist Wendy Kirkland with birthday shoutouts to Harold Arlen (who wrote with several fine women lyricists) in the first hour and Nina Simone and Nancy Wilson in the second hour, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of pandemic so they can continue to distract, comfort and inspire. Playlist Dena DeRose “A Tip ...

Book Review

Playing For Keeps: Improvisation In The Aftermath

by Ian Patterson
July 1, 2020

Playing For Keeps: Improvisation In The Aftermath Edited by Daniel Fischlin & Eric Porter 352 Pages ISBN: 978-1-4780-0814-9 Duke University Press 2020 Musical improvisation is often described as a conversation. A universal language. Musicians trading back and forth seem to be having a blast, which, on occasion, for players and for listeners alike, can attain transcendent qualities that are difficult to interpret, never mind articulate. As the twelve essays in ...

Radio & Podcasts

I See You; I Hear You

by H William Stine
June 28, 2020

I think one of the responsibilities of having a microphone every week is knowing when to shut up. I did that (for the most part) this week and let singers and songwriters who for so many years have seen and heard with perception and then written with eloquent honesty about this painful struggle playing out once again across America. Playlist Cody Owen Stine “Paris Mismatch (Theme Music)" from Unreleased Master (Unreleased) 00:00 Nina Simone “I Wish I Knew ...

Radio & Podcasts

Fire Music: When Jazz Speaks Out - Part 2

by Ludovico Granvassu
June 16, 2020

In the second part of this special dedicated to jazz and civil rights [for the first part click here] we look into music inspired by the bloody events that marked the advancement of the civil rights movement, the names of the victims of ongoing brutality. The playlist included tunes which incorporate the words or the cadence of Martin Luther King, are introduced by Jesse Jackson or celebrate Malcolm X, as well as songs that were played to draw attention to ...

Album Review

Nina Simone: Fodder On My Wings

Read "Fodder On My Wings" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 12, 2020

Nina Simone found success from the beginning of her recording career in 1959. With the release of Nina Simone at Town Hall (Colpix), her third album that year, she became a fixture on the downtown New York club scene. Her life and career took a different turn not long afterward. Simone's activism in the Civil Rights Movement deepened in the 1960s as a reaction to the assassination of Medgar Evers and the fatal bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church ...

Radio & Podcasts

I Sing Just to Know I'm Alive - Happy Birthday to Nina Simone

by Mary Foster Conklin
March 2, 2020

This week we focus on new releases from pianist Jen Allen, vocalists Rosemary Loar, Simone Kopmajer, Casey Abrams and Ian Shaw, plus birthday shout outs to Nina Simone in the first hour (who also has a new single out), flutists Nicole Mitchell and Mayu Saeki, vocalists Nancy Wilson, Anne Phillips, Kellye Gray and Shirley Crabbe, violinist Sara Caswell and saxophonist Jessica Jones. Playlist Jessica Jones “For the Cats on the Continent" from Continuum (Reva Records) 00:00 Casey Abrams ...

Charts of Elegance

Simply Nina: A look back at the illustrious career of jazz legend Nina Simone

by Ava Louise
May 4, 2018

It is fitting that after a month dedicated to Jazz Appreciation, we come to the work of Nina Simone. Arguably one of the most talented jazz artists, Nina garners high praise across many demographics. What made her such an influential musician and vocalist? Her voice was deep with a richness and emotive intensity that made her singing unforgettable. She played and sang with an intensity that was and is unmatched. There was an explosiveness of emotion that was ...