Nina was a consummate concert pianist, a riveting vocal stylist, a trance inducing dancer, all contained within a fearless and charismatic personality. Nina absolutely refused to give in to the temptations of fame and fortune, or buckle under to the threats and persecutions designed to temper her rebellious spirit.
Rather than be a slave to the system, she escaped and died in exile in France.
She had gone way out there—a runaway who refused to return no matter how much the captains of industry insisted that conditions had changed. Although some would like to assess her mercurial personality as bi-polar or even schizophrenic, the truth is that whatever might have been medically or mentally wrong with Nina, both the etiology and sociology of the problem were firmly rooted within the larger American society. In other words we are no sicker than the social conditions that produce us.
Nina Simone completely redefined what it meant to be a professional recording artist. Moreover, as much as I dug her political stances and sentiments, what really, really moved me was her unsentimental, clear-eyed philosophical stances as an artist and as a human being.
Nina Simone & Piano! is a classic album even though most of us have never heard the recording and some of us even find the performance unlistenable. And in truth the performances are raw sometimes just short of ugly and painful. Nina cuts no slack. Not one radio-friendly, lovey-dovey selection—just Nina singing and accompanying herself at the piano in a fierce and uncompromising critical reflection mode.
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We open the week with selections from a classic Nina Simone and piano album, followed by new music from bassist Richard Bona, and conclude with a J. Period, Michael Jackson Tribute Mixtape.