Remembering Nina Simone on her birthday π
π· 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
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
π· 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/4lqZavK1β¦
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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Happy birthday to Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk π
π· Ara GΓΌler
"His books are multi-layered, allegorical, sometimes fanciful, Proustian in their attention to detail and Borgesian in their dazzling complexity."
- Sarah Lyall
Orhan Pamuk by Sophie Bassouls, 1990
"Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow."
It's so great that other photographers have continued Philippe Halsman's #jump! tradition. Here's Orhan Pamuk by Alex Majoli.
This was taken at Cannes in 2007, when Pamuk was a member of the Festival Jury.
Celebrate the Richard Avedon Centennial ππ―
π· Irving Penn, Vogue, August 23, 1993
"He was small, dark & electric with his own sort of vitality. Crackling. Sparks seem to fly out of him. He flashes his fingers like tiny rapid moths."
- Ginette Spanier
On Richard Avedon's Centennial, my favourite portraits
Carson McCullers & Tennessee Williams, April 25, 1950 #Avedon100
On Richard Avedon's Centennial, my favourite portraits
Buster Keaton, 1952 #Avedon100
I'm listening to Concerto Italiano play Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, in their 2005 recording under Rinaldo Alessandrini.
I've always loved the cover photo; it's by Julia Fullerton-Batten. I'll start a thread of some of my favourites of her photos here. π§΅
Julia Fullerton-Batten
The Lady of Shalott, 2018
... which is, of course, a reinterpretation of John Waterhouse's 1888 painting of Lord Tennyson's poem.
Happy birthday Sofia Coppola π
π· Kate Barry
"Coppola is a true auteur β a filmmaker with a distinct worldview and sensibility and a personal set of quasi-autobiographical interests."
- J. Hoberman
Sofia with her dad on the set of Godfather 2
π· Steve Schapiro, 1974
The Coppola family by Ted Streshinsky, 1974
Eleanor & Francis Ford Coppola with their kids Sofia, Roman & Gian-Carlo
Celebrate the Red Garland Centennial ππ―
π· Bill Spilka, c. 1957
"Garland's style was understated and harmonically sophisticated; he would delineate a melody, then shade it with distinctively voiced block chords and hints of counterpoint."
- Jon Pareles #RedGarland100
Esmond Edwards' great album cover for Red Garland's "Red in Bluesville", from 1959. Edwards took the photo, & designed the album as well.
Remembering Bea Arthur on her birthday π
π· Martin Mills, 1972
"Those of us working with her knew we were working with a golden comedic touch." - Norman Lear
Beatrice Arthur with Bill Callaway & Carl Ballantine in Bruce Jay Friedman & Richard Adler's musical A Mother's Kisses
π· Jack Mitchell, 1968
Angela Lansbury & Beatrice Arthur in Mame
π· Friedman-Abeles, 1966
Arthur won the Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony for her performance. She was Beatrice on the stage & Bea on TV.