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Jazz Icons Series 3: Nina Simone Live in '65 and '68
by C. Michael Bailey
Nina SimoneJazz Icons Series 3: Live in '65 and '68 Jazz Icons 2008
Savage Dignity. Nina Simone is singular among jazz musicians. She had a vocal delivery that was more Charlie Patton than, say, Shirley Horn. Her cover of Bob Dylan's “The Ballad of Hollis Brown," presented on Jazz Icons Series 3: Nina Simone Live in '65 and '68, is a microcosm of Simone's performance style: kinetic, forceful, and emotionally intense to ... read moreNina Simone: To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story
by Tom Greenland
There was only one Nina Simone, an original and highly imaginative artist whose style embodied a wide range of influences from musical Americana and beyond. To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story (three CDs and a DVD) is a fine boxed set overview of her career, emphasizing the live performances where she was most in her element. Culling material from her Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA, PM, CTI and Elektra recordings, To Be Free is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging of ...
read moreNina Simone: High Priestess of Soul
by Shannon J. Effinger
“I insist on being not one of your clowns, but one of you," she commands of her French audience early on in her performance. When Nina Simone walks out onto the stage, the first word that comes to mind is: regal. “I am a queen," she proudly announces. Her black wrap dress is simple and minimalist. Her silver necklace, a gift from a man who lives in Greece, is modest and beautiful--she pulls attention towards it on more than one ...
read moreNina Simone: Remixed & Reimagined
by Jim Santella
Mixing any recording can be an adventure. Most popular dance club music varies greatly from what the individual artist laid down. With nearly all recorded music, however, the featured artist has an opportunity to listen to and approve the final mix. The objective is to make the artist sound his or her very best. Through a lot of hard work, this usually works out fine.
This Legacy release of Nina Simone's work keeps her voice and her music ...
read moreNina Simone: From Cathouse Blues to Mississippi Goddam
by Andrew Velez
Four fine albums, covering the mid 1960s through 1980, which hopefully will introduce a new generation to the high priestess of soul, Nina Simone, and the great dark beauty of her music. Simone's existing devotees won't need any prompting.
Nina Simone The Soul Of Nina Simone RCA/Legacy 2005
The Soul Of Nina Simone is drawn mostly from the mid to late 1960s, when Simone's emotionally charged performances were often ...
read moreNina Simone Speaks Like a River
by Chris M. Slawecki
“Anything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music. It's infinite. It's like God, you know?"
~ Nina Simone, DownBeat interview, 1969
With the January 17 unveiling of several titles from her back catalog, re-mastered and re-annotated and supplemented with bonus tracks, plus The Soul of Nina Simone CD / DVD dual disc released this past September, the music industry may ...
read moreNina Simone: Silk and Soul
by Jim Santella
Originally released in 1967 as an LP, Silk and Soul followed Nina Simone's blues album by combining pop songs with soulful musical statements that included strong threads from gospel and blues. Two bonus tracks are included, both originally released as singles in '69.
Pianist Billy Taylor wrote one of the keystone selections for this album, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free. It's a spiritual piece that opens the door for Simone's crusade against ...
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