Jazz Icons: Nina Simone features two incredible concerts from 1965 and 1968 showcasing the multifaceted diva in all her glory. Simone shines as a jazz vocalist extraordinaire on “Tomorrow Is My Turn,” as a definitive folk interpreter on Bob Dylan’s “The Ballad Of Hollis Brown” and as a passionate civil rights activist on both the epic “Four Women” and the scorching “Mississippi Goddam.” This DVD is a must for Nina Simone fans as she displays all of the qualities that made her both a supremely gifted jazz singer and pianist as well as the “High Priestess of Soul.”
Features:
24-page booklet
Liner Notes by Rob Bowman
Foreword by Lisa "Simone" Kelly
Cover photo by David Redfern
Booklet photos by Lee Tanner, Giles Petard, Susanne Schapowalow, Val Wilmer
Memorabilia collage
Total time: 64 minutes
Nina Simone. Those two words bring to mind other words: musical genius, perfect pitch, classical training, Civil Rights activist, revolutionary, Titan, and Queen, just to name a few. I’m the only person in the world who called her, Mommy.
As her child, I witnessed many performances growing up and have heard stories of me dancing in the wings as she played and sang…there’s even a live recording of me yelling out “Mommy, can I have a hot dog?” in the middle of one! My mother was given the moniker ‘High Priestess of Soul’ for she could weave a spell so seductive and hypnotic the listener lost track of time and space as they became engrossed in the moment. She considered herself a “Griot”, which means storyteller, for she could take her listeners on a journey and leave them gasping for more by the time she was through.
To say the least, Nina Simone is more famous now than she was when she was alive… isn’t that ironic? As her daughter, I still have a hard time with that one. —Lisa "Simone" Kelly |
ARTISTS
Live in Holland 1965:
Nina Simone (Piano, Vocal)
Rudy Stevenson (Guitar)
Lisle Atkinson (Bass)
Bobby Hamilton (Drums)
Live in England 1968:
Nina Simone (Piano, Vocal)
Sam Waymon (Organ, Vocal, Percussion)
Henry Young (Guitar)
Gene Taylor (Bass)
Buck Clark (Drums) |