Remembering Nina Simone on her birthday 🎂
📷 David Redfern, 1966
"Every generation has to discover Nina Simone. She is evidence that female genius is real."
- Germaine Greer
One of my favourite Nina Simone portraits, by Bob Willoughby, from c. 1960
For Nina Simone's birthday, this spectacular photograph by Guy Le Querrec
From the 1er Festival Culturel Panafricain, Théâtre de l'Atlas, Alger, July 30, 1969
Guy Le Querrec's photo of Nina Simone at Olympia Concert Hall, Paris, 1969
Nina Simone & James Baldwin by Deborah Feingold, 1979
Two of my heroes
Nina Simone at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival
📷 Jim Marshall
Another beautiful Nina Simone portrait by David Redfern. This was taken during a BBC taping in London in 1966.
"I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you."
I'm listening to Nina Simone's The Colpix Singles, which features the Bob Willoughby photo on the cover. One of my favourites is Jimmy Cox's great blues number Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out. I love the songs that feature Simone's piano.
open.spotify.com/track/4lqZavK1…
Horace Ott, Bennie Benjamin & Sol Marcus wrote "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" for Nina Simone. It's the first track on her great 1964 LP Broadway - Blues - Ballads.
The (also great) version by The Animals is a cover.
"My Baby Just Cares For Me", my favourite Nina Simone song. Her love of Bach is clear.
Written by Walter Donalds & Gus Kahn, but lots of Nina here!
Nina Simone's I Put A Spell On You, from 1965, features a portrait by Bernard Gotfryd on the LP cover. Simone completely transforms Screamin' Jay Hawkins' cult song, which reportedly sold a million copies without ever charting. Spell-binding!
Nina Simone recorded many great Broadway tunes; the best, I think, is "Feeling Good" from Anthony Newley & the late Leslie Bricusse's 1964 musical The Roar Of The Greasepaint - The Smell Of The Crowd.
Another favourite Nina Simone song: "July Tree", written by Irma Jurist & Eve Merriam. Hal Mooney's arrangement, with harp, flute & strings, allows Nina Simone to show off her sweetest tones in this change-of-pace song.
Another photo of Nina Simone & James Baldwin. This is from the @NYPL photo collection. Undated & unidentified photographer.
And also from the @NYPL, this 1963 shot of Nina Simone with Lorraine Hansberry.
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